Spring fling

With warmer days ahead, it's time to toss aside your turtlenecks for the season. And while you're at it, take a look inside your makeup bag. It may be due for a spring cleaning. You already may have noticed that some of your favorite beauty products seem just plain wrong right now. Here's why: To go along with darker, heavier clothes in the winter, we tend to wear deeper makeup colors. Those are out of step with the candy colors popular in spring fashion.

Spending more time outside is another big reason winter makeup doesn't hold up in warm weather.

"It's getting sunnier every day, and with more light outside it changes the way pigments reflect on your skin," says Floria Butler, retail business manager at the Benefit Brow Bar at Macy's, 111 N. State. "You're also constantly changing skin shades as you get more sun through the season."

So, what should you buy, and which products should go buh-bye? We canvassed beauty experts to get pointers on the best new products for spring.

Pencils can smudge, especially with heat and sweat, says Body Shop spokeswoman Shelley Simmons. Liquid eyeliner stays in place until you take it off with eye makeup remover.

"You're guaranteed not to get the panda eye effect," says Simmons. Body Shop liquid eyeliner, bodyshop.com, $11.50.

Cream shadows make for easier application (no streaky mishaps) and last up to 10 hours without creasing. Benefit Cosmetics Creaseless Cream Shadow/Liner, $18, or Clinique Quick Eyes Cream Shadow, $15. And try a brow highlighter, like Benefit High Brow, $20, to add luster under your brow bone and make eyes look bigger.

You've got to change your mascara every three to six months (admit it: you don't even remember the last time you threw yours out). Benefit BADgal Blue mascara, $19, makes the whites of your eyes look brighter; it also subtly deepens the appearance of any eye color. And, from a few feet away, you can't tell it isn't black.

Lipstick can get soggy and break apart in the heat, says Simmons. Instead, try a "barely there" shade of gloss like the Body Shop's Liquid Lip Color in 02 Golden Coral, $13 at bodyshop.com, to give lips fullness. Another favorite: Clinique Long Last Glosswear SPF 15 in Clearly Pink, $14.

If you're already using bronzer, add more to exposed body parts, like decolletage and shoulders. Also: Try a light pink highlighter on cheekbones to add shimmer without heavy color, like Benefit Cosmetics Thrrrob (benefitcosmetics.com or the Benefit Brow Bar at Macy's, 111 N. State, $28) or the Body Shop Blushing Daisies, $19.50.

Without the dryness of indoor heat, your skin doesn't need as much moisturizer. Try Bliss Spa's new Youth as We Know It anti-aging concentrate, $70 for 1 ounce, at blissspa.com. Take it a step further and give your skin a jump start for spring with the Youth as We Know It facial -- using the brand's whole line of regenerative skin products -- at the W Hotel's Bliss Spa (644 N. Lake Shore), $185.

Benefit's Floria Butler says it's hard to match foundation as you get more sun, and foundations also may turn orange when mixed with sweat. A tinted moisturizer like Benefit You Rebel, $28, blends into your complexion because the color is more subtle. You can layer it with a foundation primer like That Gal, $27, for smoother application.

Another option: blotting papers, which give you a quick "refresh" if you're looking oily. Lavender Chamomile Blotting Tissues, $10 for 65 sheets, bodyshop.com.