You may have guessed, because I have chosen to write a blog about makeup, that I'm pretty good at applying, choosing colors, & textures of makeup, understand proper sanitation & cleanliness, Special tricks & makeup techniques up to, and including, elaborate face painting & prosthetic appliance application. All of this is true. What you may not know, however is that I am severely computer handicapped! I truly believe they hate me as much as I hate them. Truly.
Unfortunately I have some people who have been attempting to link to my blog & are unable. I went through, about 5 minute ago, the help center's instructions on enabling a back link, but every instruction they had I had already enabled, so I don't quite know why it is not possible to link to my blog. I promise that I will continue to figure this out, so don't give up on me yet.
O.k so let's get to the makeup savvy part!
Color choices are probably one of the most fun & exciting part of picking out makeup. It can also be one of the most frustrating. I will try to give you a basic overview of what to look for to help you make the best choices, but like the English language, there are exceptions to every rule, so this is a guideline only, & for specific questions you can contact me directly.
Today we'll discuss Brown:
Brown, while not often thought of as the most exciting color in the spectrum, is truly the most versatile, & there is a shade that looks good on everyone! Brown eyeshadow or liner, or even mascara, has the unique ability to be soft, strong & smoky, to help prominent eyes, or drooping top lids recede, to enhance every eye color, to make eyes appear wider, or smaller, or further apart, or closer together, all while maintaining a complexion enhancing, more natural look. Because brown contains all the same colors as most peoples skin complexion it can be used in many ways without becoming as harsh or sever looking as blacks, & gray/charcoals can.
Brown is a mixture of Red + Green, or Red + Yellow + Blue. (sometimes makeup manufacturers use Red + Yellow + Black, but I feel this results in a skin color that is much too orange & not natural to almost any skin tone, except tan-in-a-bottle users &
Oompa-
loompa's).
Most women's complexions can be broken down into a basic tone, again this is not exact, & not universal there are always exceptions!
There is cool, which usually shows pink in the skin, Do not mistake
Rosacea, or discoloration around the nose or chin, which is often broken capillaries, or acne. You need to look at the skin as a whole, minus skin imperfections. Have someone else, if necessary, check the sides of your face, your neck, forehead near your hairline, preferably in natural sunlight & absolutely without any makeup on.
Cool/Ruddy/Pink skin tones have a tendency to be fairer, to range from sunburning extremely easily to somewhat easily, can have veins & capillaries showing clearly through the skin & may even have a bluish tinge because of their translucent skin. They have a tendency towards redness around the eyes, especially the lids, nose & cheeks. If you are in this general category your foundation should have pinker tones to it. All foundations will /should have yellow in them, as Melanin, which is the pigmentation in our skin, is yellow. This is true of everyone except the lightest porcelain & albino complexions. However, if you are cooler, or even just fairer, no matter your tone, there should be less yellow in your foundation. Cools should stay away from any base color that looks very yellow or brown as this will give a muddy look to your face. The cool foundations have a mixture of the colors I mentioned above with a larger concentration of red to yellow in the mix, then usually, toned with blue to lessen the orange that red & yellow make when mixed alone. True pink tones will need more red, less blue, less pink tones require more blue/red mix. Remember art class in grammar school?
Now to highlight your eyes the browns that you choose should be yellow based. This will accentuate your complexion & eye coloring. If you have redness around the eye area, putting a brown that is very red based will only focus the attention on your discoloration, whereas countering it with yellow based will help visually neutralize the discoloration.
Make sense? Remember this is very basic, & I could go into a much more in depth color theory, but I'm trying to keep this simple.
Now, for Warm/Olive/Sallow complexions: We, yes I am in this category, tend to tan somewhat to very easily, & rarely burn. we may have natural complexions that, without makeup, make people ask us if we are feeling well, because we look a little "green around the gills", we tend to have larger pores, more oily skin, esp. the T-zone, & more breakouts or acne. Again, not exact, or exclusive to this tone. We need more yellow, sometimes a lot more in our foundations. These are difficult to find in your drugstore. Asian women tend toward the most sallow (yellow) & need makeup that contains the most yellow. Mediterranean skin tones often are Olive which still takes a great proportion of yellow, but also more blue than sallow complexions to create an appropriate tone. Those that are tan, especially deeply may need to look for the brownest tones & some tanners then develop reddish undertones, such as myself, or more golden tones, which then requires a yellow adjustment. If you are a boutique mineral user, you may be fortunate enough to buy from a company that offers adjusters. I offer my private clients warm & cool foundation adjusters. This allows you to deepen or lighten your current mineral foundation to match your changing skin tone. I don't recommend, however going more than one shade in any direction. If you tan deeply it is better to purchase a new foundation & save each one for the appropriate season, blending them together in between (one of the benefits on minerals, they are easily blended together at home).
So now for the browns for these categories; Cool reddish browns will look great & create a natural look. I myself use a brown called Bittersweet, along with a rusty reddish color I named Russet, plus a highlight color I named Bare to
create a smokey eyed look that deepens & warms the dark brown of my eyes, & still l
ooks pretty during the day. It lacks the cool harshness of black or Charcoal that would be too overpowering for day.
For women of color you have as great a range as any other skin tone, from cool to the deepest brown/black. Often in women of color the major mistake in foundation colors is too much red. So, it is most important to really assess your skin. Also women of color can actually have 2 separate & distinct tones to your face one in the center & one around the outside of the face, professionally this is known as "masking" . You should use two separate colors & blend them together inward to achieve the most natural look. Those with the darkest
skin tones often need the addition of black colorants to find the depth they need. In minerals these shades often require more colorant & less base ingredients to avoid an ashy skin look, as all base ingredients tend to be white. Women of color will benefit the most from a professional skin assessment.
In eyeshadow, the deepest browns, & black browns will usually enhance your complexions, I have a color called Mink, that is a mixture of both black & brown, that would look fabulous on a deep, rich complexion.
For any women of color interested, contact me & I can refer you to a fantastic woman, who specializes in mineral makeup for women of color. I am in development myself of these colors, but won't sell them until I'm sure they are fabulous.
Now we can't forget our Beige/Neutral girls. You are a combination of warm & cool. If you try foundation after foundation & never find one that is quite right, it's either too warm or too cool? Try moving into the beige category & see if this doesn't improve the look of your foundation color. While true yellow tones may be the most difficult to find, your coloring often offers the least amount of choices. There is usually 2 to 3 choices & they are often still leaning in a warm or cool direction & many times don't offer any shade beyond a light-medium. In an effort to match your skin you may also benefit from buying two colors in your shade, but in different tones, one warm & one cool, and simply mix them together. Again, another benefit of minerals is the
blend ability, but also minerals tend to be very forgiving in shade, & most mineral lines offer more
neutrals &
beiges. I myself have six neutral colors Lightest, Light, Medium, Medium-Dark, Dark, & Darkest. In minerals if you are between shades always go darker. because the base ingredients are white minerals & often look darker in the jar than on the skin.
Remember, and this is for all skin tones, do not try to change your skin color with foundation! It will only look unnatural. Instead enhance what you have & improve your coloring with light
bronzers, or beautiful blushes.
The browns in the Neutral category are more
versatile, as you can choose from whichever side you prefer. Stay away from red based if you have a lot of acne or redness to your skin, to avoid accentuating these. Tan tones may look the most natural for a no-makeup look, but for your eyes to pop out pick a color toward either end. Fairer skin, eye & hair colors may perk up with the more yellow based browns, & pale, ivory (which is a slight yellow neutral) will look fresher and prettier with cool browns, as would those with brown hair and/or brown eyes, but neutral skin.
The exception to this is of course, is if you have redness or irritation, then avoid red. As well as, If the whites of your eyes are yellow, avoid yellow based colors, go for neutral browns instead. This applies to any skin tone. (See I told you there are a million exceptions!) Neutrals are an equal blend of red & yellow/blue. The best way to determine this is to look at the brown & ask yourself which primary color do you see Red, Yellow, or Blue. Red=cool, Yellow=warm, Blue(or none)=Neutral
These are just a few ,very basic guidelines, that you can take with you when you go to the beauty counter. I hope these help, & please don't hesitate to contact me with questions. I'll give you guys the address to my new
web page, it's
http://www.fortunatefaceminerals.com/ . On the contact page fill out your information, include your email address, & I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have.
Stay Beautiful!
Karrie
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