We live in a place surrounded by color, but while pinks, violets and yellows are appreciated in nature, when it comes to fashion, many women fear it.

The point is not lost on outsiders. During Nordstrom's Beauty Event, one of the visiting makeup artists from Laura Mercier quipped, “;I've been to this island many, many times and one thing I noticed is you all love your brown makeup ... after today, no more brown.”;

After I wrote a story about spring's colorful fashion earlier this year, I kept hearing from women who said they were afraid to wear color.

While that's understandable when it comes to covering your entire body in swaths of citrus or jewel colors, nobody says you have to dive into the deep end of the pool to bring color into your life.

Baby steps are key. Adding little touches of color, whether via a new shade of lipstick or eyeshadow, is easy and will go a long way toward keeping your look current, without spending a lot of money.

Once you get started, you may be surprised by how addictive color can be, and how fabulous secondary colors can look together when you're pairing an orange (red + yellow) handbag with green (blue + yellow) shoes. And you won't even care when people stare and ask, “;Do purple and green really go together?”;

Well, of course they do.