One of my most favorite writers is Angela Carter - I remember I was in my 2nd year of college when attracted by the cover and the blurb on the back I picked up a book called Shadow Dance from the British Council library. I knew nothing about the author at that point of time, and the book, when I read it, disturbed me a lot and gave me some weird nightmares and noonmares. But the writing had a beautiful lyrical quality to it and the tropes which the author had used to explain her themes and points of view were quite fascinating. I decided to explore her writing more and gosh was I hooked! If you love writers like Marquez and Rushdie, and are a fan of Magic Realism and Surrealism, then her books are a MUST READ! The look I'm posting today reminded me of one of her signature stories- The Loves of Lady Purple- mainly because somehow purple is a color I associate more with gothic, dark and chilly autumn nights - something beautiful, fascinating yet strange, mysterious and ruthless. Purple is the color of vampires in my mind, and I admit I do find Dracula (the young Gary Oldman one) sexy!
But purple is also a color that washes me out - drains all the color off my face and makes my skin look sallow, blotchy and unhealthy. So I try and stay away from it, especially in terms of make-up. Imagine my consternation when Pantone in all its hubris announced purple as the Colour of 2014, calling it by the fancy name of Radiant Orchid! Oh no! How can somebody expect us mere mortals to sport an autumn shade all through the year, especially in the sweltering heat of Indian summer? What was I going to do? Stay out of trend and be helplessly unfashionable THE WHOLE YEAR???
No way!!! I'm nothing if not resourceful, and decided to find a way to make this beautiful but skin-sapping color work for me. And here I present my first attempt at trying to radiantly glow with orchid hues. On eyes, on lips- balanced by subtle pink cheeks.
I think what pulls the look together and doesn't let it fall flat is the lipstick- it is the only plum/purple lipstick that works on my skintone- it has pretty pink undertones and that is the reason I think it doesn't wash me out.
Best of all- it IS quite a wearable look. When I looked in the mirror I didn't see a tacky, gaudy, overly-made-up purple-y version of myself. Rather it seemed like a fun and feminine me with the added zing of, ah well, Radiant Orchid!!!
What do you think? Does this look work? Do you like purple/ Radiant Orchid in make-up? Would you wear these colours on a day-out? Let me know in the comments!
Oh, and stay tuned- tutorial for this look coming up soon! :-)
