IT’s MAKE UP TIME

Determine Your Skin Tone

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   Deciding whether you are a warm tone or cool tone can be confusing if you try to judge that by looking at your wrist nerves per se. An easier method is to wear your silver and gold jewelry. If silver looks good against your skin then you are a cool tone and if gold suits you more you are a warm tone. Nonetheless if both look good on you then you are a cool-warm tone.

Assess Your Skin Color

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   Decide which of the major skin color categories you fall into — fair, medium, olive or dark. People with the same skin color do not always have the same skin tone. For example, you could be fair skinned and cool toned, or fair skinned and warm toned. You could be dark skinned with either cool (blue) or warm (yellow). It depends largely on your ethnicity and genetics. You may not be exactly 1 skin color category, and most people are in-between. Determining the nearest category will help you find a color palette more quickly.
   

   

Foundation Base

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   Select a foundation that matches exactly with your skin color. You may need to switch foundations from summer to winter depending on whether your skin is slightly darker in summer months.
   

   
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   Try the foundation on your skin. The best place to test foundation is on the skin between your lower cheek and jaw bone. Foundations are either yellow-based or blue-based. Some make-up lines actually have words like “cool beige” or “warm honey” on their labels to indicate the tone it was made for.
   

   
   • Choose a cool color foundation with blue or pink undertones if you have a cool skin tone.
   • Select yellow-toned foundation for a warm skin tone.
   • If your skin is darker, be sure that the foundation does not make you look ashen. If so, try a different color or a yellow-based foundation.

Blush

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   Choose a blush that will complement and blend into your skin. Blush is used to highlight the cheeks and should never look streaky, so choose something subtle within your skin tone range.
   

   
   • Darker-skinned people should choose blush in shades of plums for cool skin tones, or burnt orange-bronze for warm skin tones
   • If you’re olive skinned, browns and copper blushes are for you.
   • People with medium skin tones should use apricot, coral, or peach blush.
   • Fair and cool skin types should try shades of pink or rose.
   • Try beige or tawny if you are fair with a warm skin tone.

Eye Shadow

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   Choose a color that complements your skin tone and enhances your eye color.
   

   
   • People with warm skin tones can wear eye shadow with a golden hue, such as greens, browns, gold or pinks.
   • If you are a cool skin type, pick eye shadows in blues, grays, silver, pinks, and plums. Choose an eye shadow that is right for your eye color and skin color as well as your skin tone.
   • For darker skin types and eye colors, darker, bolder eye-shadow is easier to wear.

Lipstick

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   Test the lipstick on a sheet of white paper to determine the lipstick’s dominant color.
   

   
   • Warm reds and browns or pale warm shades such as champagne are good for warm skin tones.
   • Cool, dark skin types can wear purples, rose, and sheer, pink gloss.
   • Olive skin can choose lipsticks in warm browns, beige, reds and pinks.
   • Fair, warm skin types can wear lipsticks in warm pinks and reds, while cool skin types can try purple and cool pink.