Day-Glow

These days you don’t have to make do with your sparkling personality. Your lips, hair and skin can sparkle, too, thanks to glittery cosmetics that make women, and even some men, shimmer as if they’d been sprinkled with fairy dust.

Not since the disco excesses of the ‘70s has glitter been this hot.

Celebs have been sporting sparkles, as Drew Barrymore did on Oscar night, her eyes accented with glittery eyeliner. At a recent fashion show staged by Nordstrom at the Hyatt Regency Irvine, models strutted down the runway with highly reflective metallic shadow in the upper inside corners of their eyes and a dusting of glitter in their hair.

At Orange County rave parties and nightclubs, twentysomethings have been seen wearing everything from fine iridescent powder on their cheeks and shoulders to green lips that gleam like emeralds.

Expect to see even more sparkles before summer’s out, given fashion’s newfound emphasis on healthy, dewy-looking skin. The idea is to enhance skin’s natural glow with transparent glitter or shine instead of covering up and concealing with heavy matte makeup.

“Matte makeup in neutrals and browns were in for so long. Now people are finally tired of it. So society has to go to a different extreme to get over it,” says Donna Mee, owner of Makeup Expert Empire in Costa Mesa, a cosmetic studio, school and agency that refers trained makeup artists for movies, advertising, TV and other media. Mee also makes up clients for beauty pageants and weddings.

Glitz isn’t just catching on with the younger set, Mee says. Many of her older clientele, ages 60-plus, love wearing glitter in their hair. They remember another time when sparkly hair was a hot beauty trend--during World War II.

For the ‘90s, glitter has taken many forms. Brides and flower girls have been wearing glitter from veil to white satin toe. Many prefer iridescent white powder with a greenish or purplish cast.

“You actually blow it on their hair and outfit,” Mee says.

Pageant contestants are using iridescent powders in hopes of outshining their competition. Some press their lips in red glitter after applying lipstick.

“The glitter makes their lips look like Dorothy’s red ruby slippers,” Mee says. “It’s a little heavy for day, but on the stage your lips look incredible.”

Some club-goers prefer wearing green or blue glitter on their lips. They’ll put sparkles on eyebrows, eyelashes, hair, nails and other body parts.

“I wear glitter on my toes. It’s real eye-catching. Everyone looks at your feet,” says Lana Almaraz, marketing director for Richard Long LLC, parent company of Higher Source music and clothing store in Huntington Beach, which sells glitter nail polishes by Ripe. Almaraz also wears a glitter body gel.

“My daughter is 8, and she wears it too. It’s her favorite thing,” she says. “Everyone wants an outlet to set themselves apart.”

Many would shy away from the extreme glitter makeup worn by fashion models, but the application can be toned down for a more wearable sparkle, says Shellena Gjerde, cosmetic education director for Nordstrom in Orange County.

To give models their iridescent eyes at its fashion show, Nordstrom makeup artists used a shimmery lame-colored shadow from Lanco^me and a Glitter Eye pencil by Hard Candy.

“Those are the hot tickets in our department,” Gjerde says.

Some models at the recent show also wore a clear glitter Body Haze gel by Urban Decay on their skin and hair, while a few of the males who walked the runway bare-chested were spritzed with Philosophy’s In the Buff, a dewy spray that gives the skin a slight sheen.

“The whole feeling of spring and summer is sheer textures and luminosity,” Gjerde says.

Conservatives who find the frosty gels and shadows more “Gallactica” than glamorous can opt for something more subtle, such as an iridescent eye shadow for a light sheen around the eyes.

“The look becomes more consumer-friendly,” Gjerde says.

Glitter comes in every kind of makeup, from gels to powders and polishes.

Urban Decay, a Costa Mesa-based cosmetics line, has introduced shimmery nail polishes and makeup. S&M;, one of the latest offerings, is an opalescent polish that shimmers “like a mermaid’s tail,” says Wende Zomnir, creative director for Urban Decay.

“We named it S&M; because it’s the exact opposite of what you’d expect,” Zomnir says.

There’s also Scream, a black enamel infused with silver glitter, and Litter, a clear polish with holographic glitter that can be layered over solid-colored enamel for a touch of iridescence. The polishes retail for about $11; Nordstrom carries the line.

“Glitter’s great on the beach. I wear it surfing,” Zomnir says. “My toes look pretty underwater.”

Urban Decay makes twist-up gels and sticks that allow wearers to paint their bodies with a wash of glitter. Zomnir likes to wipe iridescent or gold glitter around her eyes over a sheer eye shadow. Club-goers can use it to paint hearts on their arms or streak their hair.

“People are really into self-expression. It’s a way to add a little dazzle,” Zomnir says. “Who wouldn’t want to be sparkly?”

Make Up for Ever, a Paris-based cosmetics company, makes a loose iridescent powder called Star that comes in 23 reflective hues, including gold, purple and green (available for about $17 at Macy’s in South Coast Plaza and Nordstrom in Brea Mall). Mee likes to apply it by blowing it onto the skin and hair for just a touch of sparkle.

“You can even dust it on your nylons,” she says.

Although the cosmetic companies’ small vials of glitter may look like the same stuff you’d find in a crafts store, the sparkles used in makeup is a finer grade and made of different material than the kind of glitter used to make holiday ornaments.

“It’s not an arts and crafts project for your face,” says Dineh Mohajer, president and founder of Hard Candy in Los Angeles. “Our Glitter Eye eyeliner is so powdery the pencil’s hard to sharpen. It’s a micro glitter with just enough moisture to keep the glitter in place.”

Urban Decay uses micro glitter made from pulverized holographic film or Mylar. The fine-grade glitter’s only drawback, according to makeup artists, is that the minuscule iridescent specks can stick on the skin like a reflective freckle where you didn’t intend to put any shine.

“Trust me, it’s hard to get off,” Mee says.

Glitter cosmetics can be removed like any other makeup, but makeup artists have resorted to using tape to dab up stray sparkles. The glitter can also end up on furniture, clothing, carpeting, your dance partner or anything else you touch. As Mee says, “You leave a little sparkle trail wherever you go.”