Ah, St Patrick’s Day... The one day of the year where everyone is Irish. And the one day where it is ok to go a little OTT with the green. Eyes and nails are the easiest way to add a dash of green to your look for the festive day.

Always start by applying eye makeup first. Because green can be quite a bold colour, go easy on the cheeks with barely-there blush and neutral lips. A sheer musky rose tint on the lips will make you look less washed out if you don’t normally wear nude.

If you have fair skin, shades of light grassy, apple or lime greens are most flattering and suitable to wear everyday. Line your eyes with a brown pencil, and highlight the inner corners of your eyes and under the brow bone with a soft silvery shade to complement porcelain skin.

The “warrior-like green messy eye” seen on Emilio Pucci models is perfect for a dramatic party look, which is also bang on trend for autumn. Try using a pigmented formula for staying power and metallic or darker khaki and emerald shades. Applying black shadow to the outer corners of your eyes will give them more depth, and using an intense black kohl liner and black mascara will make your eyes pop.

To make dark green shades more wearable during the day, don’t work the colour all the way up to the brow bone by staying close to the crease. Try olive and mossy shades of green and add depth using a dark brown shadow instead of black. Apply green lightly under the eyes, or avoid it altogether and simply line the lower lash line with a brown pencil.

Minty green nails may be so 2009, but St Patrick’s Day gives you a pass to bring back the pale green shade made irresistible by Chanel’s Jade nail polish. Or go to the dark side with Black Pearl, a dark grey-green shade from the 2011 Spring Chanel Collection, tipped to be the next big colour.

 

*Article by Joy Fung