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5 Shades of Serenity

Here’s the second shade chosen for Color of the Year, “Serenity.” It’ll be interesting to see this color incorporated into just about every mainstream brand’s releases in 2016, because it’s a difficult color to do well. Pastels in general can be tricky, and shades of this kind of periwinkle blue are no different. Anyone else hoping for an interpretation of this as a highlighter? Like an iridescent bluish sheen? Please?

  1. ColourPop Prance
  2. NYX Earl Grey
  3. Make Up For Ever I212 Periwinkle
  4. Zoya Skylar
  5. Inglot #429

See side-by-side swatches!

48 Comments

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Celia Avatar

I have a highlighter rec! Geek Chic makes my favorite blue illuminator in the Gossamer Ethereal Illuminator line called Bioluminescent Bloom. Goes on with a definite Serenity feeling. Creates the most beautiful, ethereal, alien sort of look. In my dozens of highlights, it’s one of my absolute favorites and most used/unique shades. Highest recommendation from me.

A Avatar

I love this kind of blue! Though I find it very hard to wear myself, save for as nail polish. And while it’s not for me, a highlighter with this kind of sheen sounds gorgeous!

Andrew Avatar

Great picks for Serenity! The closest I’ve come to finding a highlighter with a blue sheen is a loose colour concentrate from OCC called Curved Sky. It’s a white base with a strong blue-violet sheen. It’s technically an eyeshadow, but the loose colour concentrates are great multi-taskers. Nonetheless, I’d LOVE to see more blue sheen cheek products; they’re so rare!

Lacey Avatar

A highlight product would definitely be a nice spin. I think a super sparkly sheer gloss like Sephora’s recent set would be good, too. A faint periwinkle tint loaded with iridescent and pink glitter. Both would be a much more wearable take, as not everyone will want bright periwinkle eyes and lips.

Rachel R. Avatar

All these are lovely, but I find this kind of shade really hard for me to pull off as an eyeshadow. I’d definitely do an eyeliner, though. I think it’s very pretty as a nail polish. I have the Earl Gray lipstick, so I’ll be busting that out more often.

I love your idea of a highlighter. Maybe when Jeffree Star’s come next year, he’ll have one. I know he is going to have an light blue one, but I don’t know if it will translate as a sheen or be a more opaque “Boom! Blue, bitches!”

Susan Dowman Nevling Avatar

Not so into these colors for this year. As someone said, reminds me of 80’s decor.
I do like Earl Grey tea, however. Apparently the name of a pastel blue product.

Nancy T Avatar

Cool, icy or periwinkle blues look truly horrid as hell on me. Yes, really that BAD and unwearable. Except, sometimes, in a nail polish. Therefore, Zoya Skylar goes on my list. It’s ethereal, it’s super pretty, and it has the feminine spelling of my decrease Grandson’s name: Skyler. No question.

After that heavy, for eyeshadow the closest to periwinkle I can do without looking like a crack ho, are shades like UD Roadstripe or Nyx Opal. Especially as an inner corner shade used in a dark, cool purple look, or with blackened blues or bluish-black: MAC Nehru.

The highlighter idea may work for some, but not on me, I know. The coolest I can go tone wise, is CP Monster, and even that can seem a little too cool!?

Inday Avatar

Looxi Beauty has a BEAUTIFUL highlighter with a bluish sheen called Luna! I’m partial to Ever After myself, which has a purplish/opal sheen. I just ordered the one with a greenish sheen, Voo Doo, during her Cyber Monday sale and can’t wait to try it out. They can only be purchased online though. The site is down until later this week to allow for processing of the Cyber Monday orders, but I can’t recommend it highly enough! I’m not affiliated or associated in any way other than I love her products and her customer service – A+ all around! I hope you get a chance to try some of her products Christine.

Christine Avatar

Thanks for sharing, Inday! I don’t think I’ll be trying it any time soon, only because I already have several indie brands queued up (like 1,000 products) and just added two new brands (last week after a six month hiatus), and I get some frustrated owners when they don’t see their products on the blog so I really try to limit what I buy unless I get through some of the backlog or else people just get very angry with me, lol!

Inday Avatar

Oh my gosh! And that’s in addition to the main stream products?! Crazy! But thank you for all you and your team do for our beauty community Christine! Excited for what you have in store!

Phoebe Avatar

Thank you for that recommendation, i just had a look online and now i can’t decide between Luna and Ever After! I am always trying to find the perfect blue/purple highlighters and it is so hard. Shame the site is down otherwise I would get them now!

Genevieve Avatar

You are right Christine – this is a very hard colour to get right. Many brands struggle with this – especially as a matte. You would have to be very careful when using this shade as an eyeshadow because you could easily end up looking like an eighties horror if you used too much of it.
I think the Ingot shadow got the colour right the best – soft and shimmery.

Ray Avatar

Hmmmm, this color and the pink make me wonder what the fashion world has up its sleeve for next year. Though these shades look difficult to us, they were very popular as eye shadow colors in the late ’60s. We just got out of a ’90s resurgence and this season’s stuff is largely ’70s inspired. Has anyone gotten a whiff of a mod revival?

Christine Avatar

Here’s Pantone’s press release on the Color of the Year: http://www.pantone.com/color-of-the-year-2016

They present two ideas: one about calming, soothing colors and the other about colors losing their gender-specific status. I’m not into fashion myself, so I can’t comment on whether we’ll see a 70s revival this coming year! I guess one might start at the lines shown this past September? That would at least give insight into the spring lines.

El Avatar

I love periwinkle. Way back when, it was the chosen colour for my brother’s wedding, including our bridesmaids’ dresses, and it was soooo hard to find anything else in the shade. So I’ve been partial to it ever since! I think my fave is the Stila smudge stick, though, which many might find more wearable than full-on eyeshadow.

Astrild Avatar

I love this color but… not for makeup. Perhaps a nail polish could be pretty for the spring and summer, but I find the shade not versatile at all.

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