You Need This Eye Shadow

Inspired by the original J.Crew girls

First things first: Have you read the J.Crew book yet? It’s called The Kingdom of Prep and it’s by

The Spread

’s Maggie Bullock. It came out at the beginning of this year and I’m embarrassed it took me so long to get to it, particularly after my previous, weekend-long fling with

Avery Trufelman

’s excellent podcast series, American Ivy (last mentioned it here). For anyone who’s ever wondered why we dress the way we do, why the codes of prep are so ingrained in our culture, or what it feels like to build a culture-conscious consumer brand, I highly recommend it.

I could talk about the book for hours on end (and will! If you have the good fortune of running into me in the coming weeks), but one of the images that’s stayed with me is the notably makeup-free faces of the mid-’90s J.Crew catalogues. (Fun fact, I wrote my first Into The Gloss story about this back in 2014.) They were apparently militant about the look. And I get it! A big beauty moment can stop you in your tracks (the coral lipstick of J.Crew’s later years is just as memorable), but there’s something so indelibly cool about being fastidiously makeup-free. Not necessarily easier, of course — which makes it even chicer, the way it drips with money and confidence and better things to do.

Eye makeup, with the exception of certain mascaras, is decidedly not a part of this look. I’ve been known to cling to my flick of liquid eyeliner as a part of my going-out look, but it never doesn’t feel effortful. Of course, because it is! If I’m doing an eye, I gotta carve out time.

Over Labor Day weekend, on vacation with friends, I made one of those beauty discoveries that promised to change the state of my makeup bag for the foreseeable future. I’ll paint the picture:

In the midst of getting ready, I stopped in the kitchen to grab a pre-dinner glass of Chardonnay. My best friend, Melissa, also in the kitchen, was helping herself to a glass as well. With a towel wrapped on top of her head, she clearly wasn’t ready yet. But her face? Simply stunning. Beyond that post-beach, fresh-out-of-the-shower glow that only happens on vacation, it was as if she was totally in focus. Like the girls in those J.Crew catalogues that don’t have acne or undereye bags and get to live on Nantucket because of that.

Her eyelids, in particular, gleamed — not entirely artificially, but I couldn’t tell if she was wearing makeup or just 20% prettier than usual. I screamed, “Don’t put on any more makeup!”

Clearly surprised, she told me, of course not — she’d already done her makeup. I got very close to her face. What was on her eyes then?

The Byredo Colour Sticks in Vienna and Demerara are the best thing to happen to eye makeup since I’ve been writing about beauty. Bold words, but deservedly so. Eye makeup, particularly shadow, is not for everyone. Both on a skill level and just in terms of look. I rarely, if ever, do eye shadow myself, simply because I don’t think it looks that good on me. And I’m OK with that! I can do other things that suit me better. But I’m convinced these dewy, barely tinted sticks suit just about everyone. Vienna is a nearly transparent gold that looks like lip gloss once applied, but doesn’t leave any sticky heaviness that you can feel. Demerara is a hazy pink, apparently inspired by brown sugar. On my skin tone, it gives a cool-toned rosiness that helps define the eyes, which pulls the face into focus and gives an unstudied intentionality that you can sense, but maybe not pinpoint exactly. They’re dewy and blendable and the best part is that you do not need any skill in application. Swipe with abandon, finger blend to your heart’s delight.

Technically, they can be used all over the face, if you’re looking to justify the $38 price point. But I think the ease and absolute ubiquity of the look probably get your price-per-wear down to negligible numbers. Easy, breezy looks never really go out of style.

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