Purple: the color of royalty, Crown Royal, half of ITG’s alma mater, and, according to makeup artist Robert Jones, the best color to nonverbally announce that shades of green exist in your eyes (See Cara Delevingne in Diane Kendal’s dual-tone purple cat eye at Jason Wu Fall 2013). But, in the reality that exists outside of runways and bouts of Saturday Night Fever, vibrant purple is not the most casual shade to wear to, say, the pharmacy, yoga class, or on a blind date. So what's an emerald-eyed gal to do?

Consider the sophisticated subtlety of mauve. Chanel Ombre Essentielle in Fauve has been passed around the Gloffice the way Scorsese's Wall Street playboys apportioned quaaludes. (Spoiler alert: frequently and generously.) The gray-lilac has a way of making light eyes look like sea kelp while warming your whole face, making your lips a little rosier, your cheeks a little pinker, and—maybe this is just wishful thinking (or our new water “diet')—your cheekbones a little more pronounced. We wouldn't be surprised to see Fauve in Keira Knightley’s makeup credits for Anna Karenina. Its rose shimmer just feels so right for winter, whether in 2014 NYC or 19th century Moscow. For the iridescence-averse, there’s the equally alluring matte Ombre Essentielle in Hasard. And, for an homage to the aforementioned Kendal creation, Stila’s Venus is a triptych of wisteria, gray-violet, and plum—to shade, sculpt, and blend accordingly.

Photos by Mathea Millman.