Gradational Eyelids

We are living in the dawn of a new age of eye shadow.

First there was the kohl age--Cleopatra and all that. Then there was the grease and crayon age, which reached its height during the Twiggy era. Then there was the pressed-powder age, with all its endless variations on the same old theme. Here are the new colors for fall! Here are the new mix-and-match compacts for spring! Right. Frankly, it was getting to be a bit of a rut.

But wait.

Astute readers of fashion magazine advertisements will notice a truly new look in the world of eye shadow in the next few weeks. The latest pressed powders are dappled and stippled in the case, like little tablets of multicolored granite. Or two or three shades are blurred together like runny watercolors.

The real newness of all this is more in the presentation than in what it looks like on your eyelid. Once brushed on, the colors all smudge together for a smoky effect with subtle highlights. But packaging is the heart and soul of makeup. Would you buy a new eye shadow if it came in a boring, generic box? You wouldn’t, and cosmetic companies never forget it.

Also, these new gradation eye shadows help you achieve a gradational eyelid, and that’s a much fresher, more interesting look now than monochromatic sweeps of color.

“I was inspired by all the marbles in Milan,” says Geri Cusenza, creative director of the Woodland Hills-based Sebastian International, which manufactures cosmetics and hair products sold in beauty salons. “The textures of architecture are very important in fashion right now.”

This trend is so strong that Sebastian sold all its 65,000 new eye shadow kits to salons within two weeks. They cost $40 for a palette of 12 shadows and will be available at Cassandra 2000 in Tarzana, Armand Hair Studio in Burbank, Pini Salon in Encino, the Rudi J. Hair Co. in Studio City and Susan Alan and Co. in Northridge.