Choosing the right makeup can be hard - there are many different brands on the market offering a range of colours, textures and formulations. What might work on your friend or relative, may not work for you, and usually this is because the formulation is not right for your skin type or the colour does not compliment your skin tone.
It can be tricky to choose make-up colours to suit your skin tone, but it's worth the effort - the right shades will make your skin glow. For help in finding your perfect matches, we've turned to expert Tricia Cusden, founder of the Look Fabulous Forever make-up range. Here are her top tips:
Finding the right make-up colour tones
Ensuring the makeup you wear complements your colouring is particularly important for older women, as wearing the wrong shade can give you a very unnatural look and leave you looking washed out. Understanding the right colour palette for your skin tone will help to accentuate your features, make you look radiant, rested and fabulous.
Know your tone
First you need to assess whether your skin tone is warm or cool. Most white skin tones can be split into either warm toned or cool toned, this is regardless of hair colour or eye colour. The most important thing is to establish is whether your skin has a yellow base (warm) or a blue base (cool). If you choose the wrong tone, you can often look drained or unwell.
Use your clothes to help find your skin tone
If you’re unsure about your tone, you can use clothing to help you work it out. If you are warm toned, you will look great wearing clothes in colours like browns, oranges, greens, coral and peach. If you’re cool toned, you will look great wearing clothes in greys, blues, pinks and red. The right clothing can also help complement your make-up and really make it pop.
Finding your base
‘Base colour’ does exactly what it says on the tin, providing a ‘base’ for the rest of your make-up, therefore getting this shade right is essential. Although the prospect of choosing make-up online can be scary, at LFF we have reduced the number of colour options, choosing to group the foundations into three colours. LFF’s base colours come in Base 01: for fair skins, Base 02: for medium/fair and Base 03: for skins which are lightly tanned or for people who spend a lot of time outdoors. These tones will complement most skin tones.
Finding your blush
Although orangey tones complement a warm skin tone, avoid harsh bronzes and oranges for your blush. Once we get older, these colours can look very hard and harsh. Therefore, if you have warm-toned skin you should choose a peach-toned, pinky blush. If you’re cool-toned, use a pink-toned blush to complement your skin tone. Choosing the right blush can make you look healthier and fresher.
Finding the right eyeshadow
If warm-toned, when it comes to eyeshadows, stick to soft browns and earthy colours to really make your eyes stand out. Cool-toned skin tones can experiment with greys and slightly brighter colours. Ensure you blend your eyeshadows really well to ensure your eye make-up is really soft and pretty.
Finding the right lipstick
When it comes to lipstick, if you are of warm colouring, choose a red with golden tones, such as Look Fabulous Forever’s Foxy Lady. If you are of cool colouring, choose a burgundy with blue undertones, such as Look Fabulous Forever’s Soft Plum.
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