Think baby pink, salmon pink, rosebud, berry, wine, neon pink and fuchsia — ’coz pink is the hottest new colour this season. Pink is my favourite colour”! We didn’t say that, Steve Tyler of Aerosmith did. And when you think about it, it does look good on even him (and with HIS lips, that’s not an easy task!). Would you like to look sweet and sexy as opposed to available and tarty? Wait, that’s a rhetorical question.

Check this out: Sexy doesn’t mean a seductress in a black, strappy number with smoky eyes and shiny red lips, no more. This season, that’s kinda gratuitous tartiness, and if it works for you, great. But charm works best when you’re a femme fatale wearing the floral and floaty with a clean and flushed face look (like I’ve been a naughty girl and I know my glow shows it!).

Pink cheeks and pink lips that look like they’ve been smooched like crazy also drive the guys wild (sometimes more than the obvious thing).

Think Sophia Loren or Brigitte Bardot and you’ll know we’re not talking about the girl-next-door look here. This is pure seduction!

Pink is an interesting colour and that’s sorta understating it. You can experiment big time with it. There’s a whole shade card ranging from baby’s bottom (hey, we’re talking an almost nude pink here!) to bubble-gum pink (think teenage sex symbols) to the more subtle berry and wine (no pun intended, but have you checked out Halle Berry in the latest Bond flick?) to the wild fuchsia that says I LIKE TO PARTY!

Really, pink can be quite shockingly sexy! We thought we’d tell you how you can get this funky colour to work for you with three different looks that go from radiantly feminine to flushed and flirty, right up to foxy lady!

Lil’ Miss Purrfect
The idea is to look a stunning beauty in unstructured simplicity. You want streamlined minimalism? Okay! So you want to look plain old pretty! What you’ve got to focus on here are your cheeks — make them look young, feminine and cotton-candy pretty.

Here’s how to use blusher in a pink or a rose tone to great effect: If you are relatively fair, this is your natural blush colour. Look at your cheeks when you come inside from the outdoors on a winter morning, after a workout or a brisk walk or if you pinch your cheeks — a nice rosy glow is what you want. Think Salma Hayek and Denise Richards’ flawlessly flushed but natural glow.

Now look straight into the mirror and place your finger on your cheekbone right under the outer edge of your eye’s iris — that’s where you apply colour. On the spot, place a large, soft brush dipped in blush. Then sweep colour straight back towards your ear and glow on!

Tip: Choose a colour that works with your skin tone and one that is believable. You don’t want to look like a walking-talking neon sign! If you’re not-so-fair, choose a slightly deeper, rosier hue. Most of the better brands available do have what we’re talking about.

Next, apply a shimmery, lilac-pink eye shadow from your lash line to your brow bone. It must be subtle, don’t overdo it. Layer on tons of black mascara (there’s no room for subtlety here) because you need some major lash definition around your eyes or you might end up looking like you are running a temperature!

Since the idea is to keep the look soft, don’t use any eyeliner, that’ll just make it regular. To complete the look, smudge on a nude or a pale shade of rose lipstick with your finger. A sheer lip gloss in pink works just as well.

Also, the one tool you must use here is loads of lip balm before applying colour — your lips must look and feel soft!

The First Flush