What color is YOUR eyeshadow?

This has been one of those items over the years that has had me baffled. I have been to Mary Kay parties, Merle Norman consultations, Beauty Control parties. I've read fashion magazines and listened to make-up experts on TV. And I'm still baffled. I've been told that my eyeshadow needs to match my eyes, that it needs to compliment my eyes and that it needs to match my clothing. Which is it? I have deep blue eyes. When I wear my blue eye shadow, it makes them really stand out and I get constant rave reviews about how beautiful they look. Then one day, some "kind" friend, says "Why do you wear blue eye shadow? That is so out-dated. Everybody wears brown now." So I switched to brown. I never get any comments on my eyes or how blue they are or how good they look. So why do I have to wear brown.

In my teen years I experimented with green when we were told never to match your eye shadow with your eye color. One boy on our road saw the green and asked me why I wore "frog do do" on my eyes. Needless to say I have NEVER owned green eye shadow since that happened. And more importantly who cares. If brown is the "acceptable" eye shadow shade, why can you buy it in all shades of blue, gray, violet, brown, green, everything. There is a bountiful smorgasbord of eye shadow out there. Who determines what we should wear and when it is "in style" and when it is not. I think I'll wear my blue for the simple fact that I like it and not worry about what others think. The older I get the more I realize I want to wear what makes ME feel good about myself, not what others think I should wear. Some days, the only eye shadow I wear are the dark circles under my eyes from laying awake at night while these non-sensical ideas such as the color of eye shadow float through my mind.