NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — As I drove north on the New Jersey Turnpike recently, a Mary Kay cosmetics saleswoman in a Cadillac DTS passed me on the right, her big car’s paint job hitting me like a punch in the eye from the Pink Panther.
As it zoomed on past the car gradually changed color. Starting at the edges, the pink faded and turned to a pearly white.
Back in New York City, during the media preview days for the New York Auto Show in early April, I spent some time talking to Chris Webb, General Motors’ Exterior Color and Trend Designer. He helped design the paint used on that car.
“We have a dedicated line that just runs the Mary Kay cars for them,” said Webb.
If you want drive a color-shifting pink-pearl Cadillac yourself, you’ll have to get a job with Mary Kay and start moving some serious eye-liner for the privilege.
Color-shifting pigments aren’t entirely new – the technology has existed for many years – but they have now entered the mainstream and are bringing new popularity to once-boring shades.
Silver isn’t silver anymore. Black might not always be black. Around the edges of the wheel wells it might glisten in purple or gold. Where the body curves inward, hints of blue or red might shine from the shadows.