Picking colors that compliment your skin tone can seem a bit complicated. In the winter we naturally get paler and in the sun, most of us are working on our tan either naturally or with a little help from the cosmetics industry.

The colors that look best on you are going to be the ones that you pick when you are palest. According to ivillage.com,”Observe the color of your nail bed or pinch the skin under your arm (or any place the sun never shines). Does the tone tend to appear more reddish-orange, reddish-blue, pinkish-blue, peachy or yellowish? Once that’s determined, you’ll have a benchmark for your natural tone. The colors that will look most organic against your skin are the colors you find in your skin. Conversely, the colors that will create vibrancy are those that contrast.”

Or you can try this tip by essortment.com, ” Holding a piece of white paper up to your face and identifying the main color you see will help you decide into which category you fall. Still, it is easy to get confused by these terms, so to simplify the process try this simple test. Try on a white shirt and then a cream or off-white top. If you look better in the white blouse, you most likely have cool skin. If the cream top is more flattering, your skin is probably warm. Another good indicator of skin tone is which jewelry looks best on you. Silver tends to work well for cool skin while gold makes warm skin glow. Either of these methods will help you to easily identify your coloring, at which point you can begin selecting make-up colors that will look excellent on you.”

Skin tones usually fall into two categories - cool and warm. Mediterranean skin tones would be in the warm category. Individuals with Scandinavian backgrounds, for example, would fall into the cooler skin tones.

Play with these colors. You may have to go a shade darker when you tan and a shade lighter during your palest moments. As for the colors that you should use for your eye makeup, look to your eye color and apply makeup that really brings attention to your eyes.

Also make use of your eye liner, as we discussed in our last blog.

One of the most frequent questions I get on makeup is how to match eye shadow colors. This is really confusing for a lot of girls. Should you try to match your clothes, your eyes, the season, your skin tone? My scan of the beauty reviews out there makes the reason for all the confusion clear. Most beauty reviews give you the writer’s opinion, but not the reasons behind it. And for any free-thinking woman, you want to know why you’re doing what you’re doing!

The Makeup How to Match Eye Shadow Tutorial

In my humble, but experienced, opinion I always advise that you work on complimenting your eye color, and then give consideration to your skin tone. Here’s why. Your eyes are set immediately against your face, not your shoes, your handbag or that really cute dress you just bought. Trying to pair your eye shadow with clothing is like choosing a picture frame to compliment your furniture, rather than the picture and the wall it is set against.

Also, a key to makeup how to match eye shadow comes straight from that color wheel your elementary art teacher showed you. Remember how it’s broken into the primary and secondary colors, and gradually moves from one to another. Most beauty reviews don’t bother to explain that this is how you learn which colors compliment your eye color. Take a look at a color wheel, and then try to choose colors close to your eye color, but different enough to make an impact. You wouldn’t frame a mostly green picture in the same green color frame. It would get lost. Most likely you’d pick a complimentary color a few tones away off.

OK- brown isn’t actually on the color wheel; it’s a combination of all the colors. Still the best colors for brown eyes tend to be coppers, beiges, and champagnes, all tones of brown. Get it? If you’re still unsure try a makeup how to match eye shadow kit like the Pop Beauty Eye Class - Blue Eyes Blue Eyes. Let them do the initial work for you. Eventually you’ll learn enough about complimentary colors to writer you own beauty reviews!

Sincerely,

Caterina Christakos- founder of stillagirl.com - a positive place for women and girls