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Color Focus: Teal Eyes & Nails Inspired by Marion Cotillard

January 20, 2010

I watched part of the Red Carpet coverage of the Golden Globes and was inspired by Marion Cotillard’s beautiful deep teal-green dress, eyeliner and nails she wore to dig through my collection and find similar shades so I could try to recreate the look. You can see her look linked here.

I don’t have a lot of blues or teals in my stash but with a little practice was able to combine the shades to achieve a similar result. Just a disclaimer: I have no idea what products or colors were used on her actual look, this is just what I tried myself to get a similar effect.



My application steps/technique:

Cheeks: First apply MAC Dainty on apples of cheeks followed by a sheer dust of Pink Swoon.

Eyes: Apply a pale champagne cream on eyes as a base like Nars Copacabana and dust MAC Quick Frost pigment from lash to brow (apply heavier near lash line). Right around the rims of the eyes, apply a seafoam green shimmer like the Bottom Left shade of Chanel Murano followed by a smokey line of a darker smokey grey-green like the Top Left shade of Chanel Murano. Apply a teal green liner like Laura Mercier Black Turquoise Eye Kohl heavily along upper lash line and lower lash line. Take a slightly damp brush and apply a shimmery teal-green shadow like MAC Deep Blue Green Pigment or Chanel Murano right over the pencil blending with a soft brush for a smudged look. The last step for the eyes (not pictured) is to take a contouring powder or soft brown like MAC Soba or Era and apply right over the middle of the eye for depth/contour.

Lips: Line with a pale pink shimmer like Trish McEvoy Essential Pencil in Baby Pink and top with a shimmery shell pink lipstick like Chanel Waikiki Aqualumiere. Top with a matching gloss for shine like Dior #431.

I would have liked to get a brighter smokey teal along the lash lines, the teals I have are darker and more subdued. I learned from experimenting that the key to get a brighter teal is to layer the colors from light to dark. Layering the Laura Mercier Black Turquoise, MAC Deep Blue Green Pigment and dark green shade from Chanel Murano over the lighter shades brings out the teal shimmer more.

For nails, I pulled out my green shades. I’m still in search for a dark teal shimmer that doesn’t look black in natural light. It’s hard for me to find something that’s the right balance of teal and dark shimmer. Most teals are either too bright for my taste or too dark. All swatches are taken with a flash, each has 3 coats. Anyone have alternative recommendations on pretty dark teal shimmers?





I already featured some other teal shades in my Smokey Eye Series in Color Focus: Smokey Eyes Part 5 (Blues & Greens) last November.

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