Pastel Smoky Eyes for Women of Color

Pastel Smoky Eyes are a big spring makeup trend, but if you have a darker skin tone, how do you pull off these light shadow shades? "What I always tell women is, 'whether it's a shadow or blush, remember that you're a color already. You're not applying this shade to a blank white canvas, you're applying it on a brown canvas, so you need a color that will complement the brown,'" says celebrity makeup artist Sam Fine (Iman and Vanessa Williams are his loyal clients). "Brown skin tends to have golden undertones, so it's harder to wear cool shades. A blue-green will look better than a sky blue." Sam also recommends avoiding a washed out look by adding extra definition with liner and lashes and using a pigment-rich eye shadow. "If you don't have eye shadow with a lot of pigment, it's going to look dusty and your skin color will take over. The shadow has to be stronger in color to show up on your skin."Here are Sam's favorite pigment-rich eye shadows for women of color:

1 Stila Eye Shadow

2 Nars Single Eye Shadow

3 Dior 2-Colour Eyeshadow

Sam Fine is the author of "Fine Beauty: Beauty Basics and Beyond for African American Women" and the mastermind behind the "Fine: The Basics of Beauty" DVD. Find out more about him at samfine.com

Image courtesy of stylist.com