What Mindy Kaling Got Really Right With Her Makeup This Weekend That Other Stars Got Wrong

OK, OK, none of the stars in this post actually got anything wrong. But since three women—Mindy Kaling, Amy Adams, and Olivia Munn—showed up in dresses in some shade of turquoise to the Costume Designers Guild Awards, it makes comparing how they accessorized with makeup easy. And Kaling stands out from the crowd in a good way.

Take a look and see if you don’t agree.

Here’s Amy Adams:

Here’s Olivia Munn:

And now here’s Mindy Kaling:

Now, the first two ladies went the safe route—go with a bold dress, and pair it with soft, subtle makeup so nothing competes. But Kaling went another way. She took a cue from the blue color of her dress and went for an almost-blue gray smoky eye.

And it’s so much more modern and cool. In fact, I feel like this is one of the big reason we’re all so obsessed with Lupita Nyong’o right now—when she goes for jewel tones, she doesn’t go for quiet makeup. Nope, she either matches or contrasts her eyes or lips to make her features pop (check out this look as an example). And that’s basically the most February 2014 you can be doing right now, trying to really make everything hit with a “pow.” Which is why I say Mindy comes out of this event as the big red carpet winner.