Choosing The Correct Makeup Colours For Your Skin Tone

Looking good is easy if you ensure that your natural colours are in harmony with the colours you are wearing. Choosing the correct makeup colours for your skin tone ensures that the colours of the makeup you choose blend well with your overall skin colour and hair colour. This is crucial as matching colours in this manner ensures that the makeup you apply highlights your face and adds value to it, instead of taking away from it or distracting attention.

The secret to doing flattering makeup is to build on what you are already gifted with, your natural skin tone and hair colour. Here, it is also important to remember that successful makeup is more about using the right shades of colours than bold colours themselves.

The Two Skin Shades

Primarily, the skin has two shades of colour called the undertone and the overtone. The overtone of your skin is what you see when you look at yourself, and because this skin is exposed to numerous elements such as tanning, it changes colour over the years. However, the undertone of your skin remains much the same throughout your life as it is considered the inside or permanent shade of your skin. Here, it is good to understand that your skin colour is different from your skin undertone, it is the base of your skin colour, or like a natural foundation at best.

Such an undertone is best visible on the underside of our wrist. Good makeup is about matching and blending colour with the skin undertone and not the skin colour. This should be done in such a harmonious and gentle way that it builds or adds to your overall complexion, giving it a smoother, softer and flawless look. Broadly speaking, makeup and skin experts have divided these skin undertones into three broad categories, namely cool tones, warm tones and neutral tones.

Identify Your Skin Tone

When it comes to doing makeup, finding out the correct skin tone is paramount. To do this, you simply have to look at the inside of your forearm and wrist, where veins are generally visible. If your veins appear slightly greenish, that means you have a yellow skin undertone or a warm skin tone. However, if your veins appear more bluish, you clearly have bluish-pinkish undertones or a cold skin tone. Should you not be able to clearly make out the colour of your veins, and the overall area has a beige tint, then you possess a neutral skin tone.

Another popular and easy way of determining your skin tone is to wash your face well and pat it dry. Now stand before the bathroom mirror and hold a plain white sheet of paper next to your face. If your face starts looking slightly yellow or red in comparison, then you have a warm skin tone. Similarly, if your face gives off a pinkish-bluish aura then your skin tone is cool. And should your face simply come across as brownish then your skin tone is neutral.

Choosing The Correct Makeup Colors For Your Skin Tone

Once you have established your skin undertone with the help of these simple tests, the next step is to mix and match makeup colours according to your skin tone. The warm skin tone colour palette includes a range of shades such as honey beige, shades of beige, almond, copper, gold etc. These colours in general and their accompanying shades are bound to compliment the skin of any person with a warm skin undertone.

When applying makeup for a person with a warm skin tone, your foundation should reflect any one of these shades. And the best way to ensure that the foundation is the perfect match for the skin tone is to do another quick, easy test.

Take 3 similar foundation colours and apply them underneath each other onto your cheekbone. The perfect match foundation would simply become invisible to the naked eye, instead leaving a smoother and even-looking skin tone. This easy test should always be performed before applying any foundation on the face, as it ensures you find your perfect skin tone match.

Regarding lip, eye and nail colour, people with warm skin tones generally look good in shades of browns, tans, corals, tans, reds, bronze etc. People with cold skin undertones on the other hand look great in foundations with shades of ivory, and brown.

While pink, rose, mauve, berry, red, plum, wine, orange etc. look good on them in lipstick, nail paint and eye colour. The biggest advantage here goes to people with neutral skin tones. They should generally settle for the foundation in shades of beige.

Look Closer…

Having established skin tones and their complimentary palettes, it is good to remember that no two people can have the exact same skin tone. So, while these colours and shades work well on most skin tones, you must apply and test these colours before embracing them in your makeup. Here, experimenting with colour is a must; otherwise, you might find yourself bored of using the same colour, while losing out on a huge range of flattering shades out there.