Get the Look: "Gray's Anatomy"

Although I'm by no means an avid watcher of "Gray's Anatomy," I've been a huge fan of the makeup used on the three lead female characters- they have the epitome of that perfect "no-makeup" natural glow that I strive to recreate. Until recently I wasn't quite sure how to replicate the look, but after stumbling upon a drugstore treasure and watching the season finale (um, cliffhangers much?) I think I've got the key basics down.

LIPS- The girls lips are slightly glossed with just a hint of peachy pink color that looks fresh but utterly natural. Neutrogena MoistureShine tinted lip balm in Glow is the best thing I've found to mimic the color- it's a shiny peach with a touch of pink, beige, and golden shimmer that lets your natural lip color show through enough so that the color doesn't look fake. The formula is similar to Vincent Longo's Baby Balm line in slickness and the SPF 20 is a huge bonus for summer (the shade range is limited, but this is a really great product and worth checking out). If your lips are naturally very rosy, you can neutralize them a bit further with either a pale nude lip liner like Stila Glaze Liner in Nude or a thin layer of an opaque pale nude gloss or lipstick like NARS Lip Lacquer in Chelsea Girls. The idea here isn't really to change your lip color, but rather to mimic the nude peachy pink glow while working with your natural lip tone, so don't coat your lips too much or it will spoil the effect.

SKIN- Keep things fresh and clean- cover any spots or under eye circles with concealer and go light on foundation but cover any redness. Pat over any concealer or foundation that you put on very lightly with a damp cosmetic sponge to blend it all into your skin. The girls don't wear noticeable blush or bronzer, but dusting a little glowy highlighter on your cheeks will again help to mimic their natural glow. There are tons of great highlighters out there, but choose on that's very finely milled (read: not glittery) in the peach to pink range- whatever is most flattering on your skin. I like Bobbi Brown Shimmer Bricks in Rose and Apricot, they reflect light in an almost dewy way and don't show up as noticeable sparkle even on those of us with large pores while providing a hint of color. Sweep it on the tops of cheekbones from the apple of the cheek towards the temple. If you want a little more dewiness in the look, use a pearly liquid highlighter like Stila All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer.

EYES- If lids are oily prep them with a dab of Urban Decay Primer Potion, then smooth on a light coat of foundation regardless. The idea is to even out the skin of the eyelid and cover up darkness and tiny veins. If you like, sweep on a subtly pearly eyeshadow similar to your skin color (probably in the champagne to cocoa range), but don't use anything too shimmery or frosty- it's texture overkill considering lips and cheeks. Bobbi Brown, Stila, and Tarte are great brands to look at (I like Tarte's Champagne Brunch). If you feel naked without eyeliner, use a damp liner brush to push a blackened brown eyeshadow like Stila Espresso (shown center) into the lash line, which defines the eyes without making an obvious line. Follow with a brown black or soft black waterproof mascara on curled lashes.

Eyeshadow's Best Friend

After a long night of dancing and socializing a friend asked me what eye makeup I use because it was still vibrant and perfect after eight hours. The vibrant part is easy: skip over drugstore eyeshadow and head to the department store. While I don't agree with MAC's business ethics, they're the first counter I visit when I'm looking for something bold- my favorite is Steamy, a gold tinged teal. Generally I love Stila's eyeshadows the best, which aren't that expensive when you consider the pan size and the line offers a beautiful spectrum of gorgeously wearable neutrals. This is not to say that all drugstore lines are all terrible (Milani for example is generally comparable in quality to mid-end lines), but eyeshadows are notoriously hit or miss and generally a drugstore brand won't deliver the pigment necessary to go uber vibrant. This is especially true of shades in the blue-green range, which look sickly as they start to fade.

The other half of the equation is Urban Decay's Primer Potion. If you want your eyeshadow to last, this stuff is truly a miracle worker. My oily skin makes all eyeshadows crease, it's just a matter of time. While it inevitably does so when I'm using Primer Potion, I still make it about seven or eight hours before any creasing develops as opposed to one or three. I've found that I use less eyeshadow now because I don't have to reapply, so it's definitely a great investment in that regard.

The major issue with Primer Potion is that it takes some time to master. Because it adheres shadow so strongly to your skin, blending becomes more difficult. I had previously mastered blending a wash of shadow to just above my eye crease and I've had to re-learn how to do it, and it definitely takes a few more minutes now to do it correctly. You absolutely must use a good quality fluffy medium powder brush or it will look smudgy, and I've found that loading the whole side of the brush evenly with powder and slowly working it along the lid is the best technique. If you blend shadow unevenly around the edges it's easy enough to gently wipe off with a finger, but if you typically do a wash of a light shade from lash line to browbone and then work in a darker color from lash to crease, I would suggest applying the light shade second which will allow you to correct mistakes and aid in blending out the edges of the darker shade. It's also slightly problematic that Primer Potion flattens the shimmer in frosty shadows. This is a good thing if you're not a big shimmer fan, but I love how pale frosty colors like Stila Kitten almost make the skin look wet, and Primer Potion definitely ruins that effect. These two issues aside, it's still very much worth owning for keeping eyeshadow intact through work and late night social events. It retails for $15, one tube should last you months.