Meaning of に in this sentence


> 色白の肌 **に** 優しそうな目がほほ笑んでいる。 Her light complexion ?? kind looking eyes were
> smiling.

Is this に simply 'in'? i.e. "Her kind looking eyes were smiling **in** her
pale skin." That sounds a bit weird.

My other thought was that it might be "due to" i.e. the fact that her skin is
pale makes her eyes stand out more.




Two interpretations:

  * "in"  
her eyes are located in the middle of the extent of her light skin

  * "plus"  
she has light skin as well as kind looking eyes

If you take the second interpretation, the sentence becomes grammatically
incohesive, but sounds not bad in literary writing.

In fact, I was able to find an example of similar "in her pale skin" in a
novel called [Kings, Queens, and All Their Things: A Drag Shergi
Mystery](https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=MMRQCAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT15&ots=PcYsKUtNEU&dq=%22in%20her%20pale%20skin%22&hl=ja&pg=PT15#v=onepage&q=%22in%20her%20pale%20skin%22&f=false),
so I guess it's not immediately a weird English ... is it?

> She had scarlet hair cut around her face then the rest fell down her back.
> There were brown eyes **in her pale skin**.




Two interpretations:

  * "in"  
her eyes are located in the middle of the extent of her light skin

  * "plus"  
she has light skin as well as kind looking eyes

If you take the second interpretation, the sentence becomes grammatically
incohesive, but sounds not bad in literary writing.

In fact, I was able to find an example of similar "in her pale skin" in a
novel called [Kings, Queens, and All Their Things: A Drag Shergi
Mystery](https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=MMRQCAAAQBAJ&lpg=PT15&ots=PcYsKUtNEU&dq=%22in%20her%20pale%20skin%22&hl=ja&pg=PT15#v=onepage&q=%22in%20her%20pale%20skin%22&f=false),
so I guess it's not immediately a weird English ... is it?

> She had scarlet hair cut around her face then the rest fell down her back.
> There were brown eyes **in her pale skin**.

