This autumn the eyelids have it.

Blue eyelids, green eyelids, bright yellow-covered eyelids – they're all making a statement this autumn/winter season.

Granted this is not a make-up trend for the shrinking violet – it's probably not even a make-up trend for some of the braver cosmetic fans – but it is (given an element of restraint on application) wearable.

How, you ask? How does bright canary yellow eye shadow suddenly morph from the ridiculous to the sublime? Why does deep red pigment, plastered over eyelids, now make us look chic as opposed to stricken with some terrible illness?

The answer, dear readers, is fashion. The seductive power of fashion.

Indeed it is a truth universally acknowledged that the minute something steps onto a famous catwalk (we're talking Dior, Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, those kinds of internationally-recognised names) it instantly becomes a trend. You might not like it, hey it might not even be that nice, but a trend it will be. The high street will copy it and, in the case of cosmetic manufacturers, millions will be spent on producing make-up in just the right colour.

The upshot? We'll all be quietly seduced into liking something – wanting something – we never knew we could.

Which brings us back to those brightly-coloured eye shadows. The blues, the greens, the yellows and the pinks (sometimes worn, kaleidoscopic style, all at once), though not everyone's cup of tea, have now been promoted to the top of the fashionable woman's wish list.

The question is how to wear it? Be bold, be bright, have fun. Sadly for those hoping to dabble quietly in colour, this is one of those all or nothing cosmetic trends.

Here are a few bright shadows to tempt you: Lancome Ombre Hypnose (£17); Nars eyeshadow trio in High Society (£33); Origins Peeper Pleaser in Golden Ticket (£14); Illamasqua Complement Palette (£34).