Modern Living: Put On a Colorful Face

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With her bright red lips, flashing fire-engine fingernails and dramatically mascaraed eyes, the woman of '71 looks like Marilyn Monroe of the '50s, Rita Hayworth of the '40s, Marlene Dietrich of the '30s or even Theda Bara of the '20s. Anybody, that is, but the so-called natural-looking woman of the '60s. The cosmetics makers and the fashion magazines have passed the word: the natural, no-makeup look is a bore. Flashy cosmetic colors are back.

Deep Colors. The experts do not phrase it precisely that way. "I would use the words deeper and more vibrant to describe the look," says the beauty editor of one of the leading fashion magazines. "It involves the forthright use of makeup and more colors." The house of Estée Lauder, which first introduced what it calls the "civilized look" in 1969 and has heavily advertised it ever since, heralds it as "the return to real makeup." Revlon followed with deep brown cream rouges and nail lacquers in startling shades, from brown and purple to bright red, a color not seen on fashionable women since the '50s.

People in the cosmetics business claim, however, that the new hues have little to do with those of the '40s or '50s. The new colors, they maintain, are so sophisticated that it is now possible to have a mulled russet eye shadow, a Dubonnet-toned rouge and a nail polish that falls somewhere between brown and mauve. Red lipstick in the '40s tended to be blue-red and caky in consistency; the '70s red is clear and guaranteed not to cake. So wide is the range of colors she has before her, a woman can now be her own Gauguin when she dabs away in front of her cosmetics mirror.

That range, in fact, has sent the manufacturers into an orgy of name giving. Charles Revson has come up with such goodies as Baby Biscuit and Raisins for his Etherea line. Estée Lauder has picked Coffee Brandy and Ginger Brandy for her nail polishes and Ripe Plum for her blushers. On the theory that a French phrase or two is equally intoxicating, Christian Dior has countered with Chataigne Doré eye shadow and Brume de Rose lipstick.

Basic Black. The return to classic clothes is giving added impetus to the rush toward the "more sophisticated" look. Longer skirts, heavier fabrics and the once again popular basic black demand an accenting feature, and this season it will be a colorful face. No firm seems more confident of that trend than London's Biba Cosmetics, which already is selling lipsticks in Prune and Magenta shades. This fall, Biba will add to its lipstick line two colors that are bound to make men happy to see red: Matisse Green and Royal Blue.