It’s hard enough knowing if the makeup shades you wear are right for your skin tone, but how about knowing if they are complimenting your clothes?
We are all attracted to certain colours in life, some like cool, pastel shades and some prefer warm, earthy shades, but it doesn’t mean they are going to be best for your makeup. Adding your favorite colour into fashion works well. It can be as simple as pop of it in the fabric, or adding an accessory, but when it comes to makeup and fashion, my advice is to always keep it balanced!!
As most of us would know, makeup needs balance in itself, like the picture above… Have one focus; is it eyes, or lips? Choose your best feature or change it up to suit the occasion. The above picture would not work as well if the eyes were heavily made up with exaggerated shadow application, but giving it is simple in colour and technique, the lips can have all the glory, giving a balanced and polished look to the makeup.
The rule of balance is so important with fashion also, especially now that prints and colour are such big trends. Mixing prints together has become big in fashion, but if we have a loud and very bright colourful makeup as well it can get too busy and no focus areas.
In saying that, there are no real rules in makeup, but there are certain shades to suit skin tones better than others and we all know a polished feminine makeup look when we see one.
One thing that really should be discussed is overly matchy matchy makeup = old school!!
This look of matching your eye shadow to your dress just reminds me of really bad school formal makeup in the 90’s!
Sometimes contrasting your makeup with the tones you are wearing can work better for an outfit, as it will show it off, not competing with the makeup. The more bright or patterned your outfit is, it should be the hero, whereas a more dull in colour or plain outfit should then have brighter makeup and accessories to make them lift the overall look.
Example:
With a red dress, we don’t wear red eye shadow, but you decide whether you want a bronzed, golden glow or a smokey grey, silver look – both tones suit the red dress and make the dress the hero because of its colour.
For me, lighter skin and hair should go the bronze look to warm up the look and the more olive skin tone and darker hair go the smokey grey to have more depth for an already deep skin tone. See how that works? Pick your fave outfit, then decide what colours go best with the outfit then adapt to your skin tone.
MB PRO TIP – Don’t match your eye shadow with colours in your outfit as a whole!
Instead add shades that contrast and then a small pop on the lid, or highlight in a complimentary shade at the tear duct area of eye and even a liner of similar shades can be worked in, rather than a complete eye match look.
If you are loud when it comes to fashion, lots of bold colours and prints for example, I would be more inclined to keep the makeup simple otherwise your look as a whole can be quite busy. If you are wearing block colours and more simple in prints, then add more definition to your makeup or especially if you wear a lot of black, brighten up your makeup look with more colour – it is always about finding that balance that suits your lifestyle and colouring.
The bold lip trend has been great for this as it has allowed women to wear more colour with there makeup than with previous trends. If you are feeling a bit drab, or your outfit is plain, grab a bold statement lipstick and instantly it is lifted, just like adding accessories to your outfit, you either keep it simple or you amp it up.
This look of Kerry Washington works so well as her outfit has a lot of warm tones through it, complimenting her skin.
The pink adds a contrast giving a lift to her overall natural tone. Her makeup is kept simple in colour using tones that contour her face giving shape, but still complimenting her skin and hair.
But, the focus and the ‘lift’ in the makeup, as it is in her outfit is the pink lip – a perfectly balanced makeup.
It’s like cooking a meal, all the elements go together well, and one ingredient, like a certain spice, might just jazz it up slightly! In this case, it is your bold lip and the pink shades.
Lips will always be where you can add a bright/bold color and get away with it. The eyes are where we should be adding colour as pops, small concentrated amounts, not full washes as much – unless you are wearing a no colour outfit like black, grey, or brown, in which case you may want to wear a one colour wash across your eyes to jazz it up, but never wear bright lips and bright eyes together, unless you are Lady Gaga or on the catwalks.
MB PRO Tip – Always look at your natural tones of eyes, hair, and skin before choosing loud makeup colours!!
These tones should be brought out by your makeup, giving them shape and lift!
So Ladies, don’t let your makeup colours take over your look. Have a perfect mixture of complimentary shades to your natural tones, with slight pops of a contrast of colour, bringing in only one tone from your outfit, either going bright on the lips or a light add of colour on the eye – that is the perfect balance to any outfit.
By Michael Brown
Twitter: @mbrown_beauty
Facebook: facebook.com/michaelbrownbeauty
Michael Brown is speaking at the Rescu. Me! Event in June 2013! Book now