Colour. Its one of the ways in which we experience the world around us. Sight, being one of our five senses, enables us to take in colourful stimuli nearly every second of the day. One of life’s strange phenomena’s is how colour can greatly influence our mood and our everyday choices in life!
In this blog we’re going to talk all about colour, how wearing certain colours influences how we feel, and how to identify which colours will suit you best and will have the most positive impact on not only your appearance, but also your mood!
Keep reading to the end to discover how to create the perfect autumnal makeup look.
Colour Theory
Before we can discover which colours suit us best, we need to get familiar with ‘Colour Theory’. Color theory is the study of how colors work together and how they affect our emotions, perceptions, and decisions. Within colour theory a useful tool called ‘The Colour Wheel’ is used to help determine which colours are cool or warm toned, and which colours compliment eachother. Many artists and makeup artists rely on the colour wheel to help them with selecting the right colours for their projects!
The colour wheel is divided into warm colours and cool. The left side of the wheel is considered cool, and the right is warm. The wheel depicts the 3 primary colours and the 6 secondary colours and their relationship with eachother. Colours that are opposite eachother on the wheel compliment eachother i.e red and green. However, complimentary colours also cancel eachother out. This explains why green concealer is used to treat redness on the face.
It is important to acknowledge this, as selecting the right colours suited to your own natural skin, eye and hair colour will greatly boost your appearance and look more aesthetically pleasing to the eye! This in turn will have a positive effect on your mood and confidence, and will actually influence how you interact with the world.
It can be so powerful that using the right colours suited to you can even determine what choices we make in life and also how others perceive us and how they interact with us too! As the saying goes, when you think you look good you feel good too.
Picking the right colours for YOU
So now that we understand colour theory, let’s talk about how to use colours to your advantage! When thinking about colour and our appearance, there are a few main features to focus on. 1. Hair 2. Skin tone and 3. Eye colour.
1. Hair
Let’s take a look at the main hair colours. There are 5 naturally occuring hair colours: Brunette, blonde, red, black and grey.
Brunette:
Brunette hair is usually warm toned, oftentimes with subtle red, copper and caramel undertones. This means that colours on the warm side of the colour wheel, specifically warm shades of red and deep pinks, are going to suit this hair colour best! Complimentary colours to red as we know are shades of green and if there are more red undertones then greens will look amazing on a brunette too! However, because brunettes have a mix of warm undertones in their hair, most warm colours will suit a brunette.
Blonde:
Blonde hair can be cool toned or warm toned. Warm toned blondes usually have golden/yellow undertones. Complimentary colour blue, and shades of blue will contrast beautifully with warm blondes! Cool blondes usually have ashy or grey undertones and so vibrant colours will actually help to create contrast. Reds, deep pinks, and deep blues will look great with cool tone blondes!
Red:
Red hair is warm in tone. Green being opposite to red therefore looks the most eye-catching with this hair colour and shades of green and even greeny blues such as teal can look fantastic on a redhead!
Try to avoid wearing too much red however, as this can overpower the vibrancy of beautiful red hair.
Black:
Black isn’t actually a colour, it’s the absence of it! But not to worry, this means that many colours will look great with black hair. Deep hot pinks, reds, whites, yellows and royal blues will look fabulous with black hair and create a gorgeous contrast.
Whilst black looks incredible on all hair colours, avoid wearing too much black, as this can look a bit heavy and dark. (with the exception of imitating the beautiful Morticia Adams!)
Grey:
Grey is a shade of black, a mixture of black and white. This means that like black, a lot of colours will look great with grey hair. However, warmer and more vibrant colours look best to draw attention to the eye. Firetruck reds, deep ambers, rich blues, and magenta pinks will look very flattering with grey hair.
Steer clear of powdery, pastel colours, this will enhance the coolness of the grey tones and can create a washy appearance.
2. Skin Tone
No matter what skin colour you have, there are generally speaking 2 types of skin undertone: warm and cool. Sometimes skin will have a neutral undertone where both warm and cool tones exist.
Warm undertones suit colours on the warm side of the colour wheel: reds, yellows, oranges, and golds. Cool undertones suit the cool side: blues, cool greens, violets and silvers. Neutral skin tones have the wonderful advantage of suiting both warm and cool colours!
An easy way to figure out your skin tone is first look at the veins on the inside of your forearms: if they appear green you have a warm undertone! If they appear more blue, you have a cool undertone. Also warm undertones will tan when sun exposed, and cool undertones will more likely burn!
3. Eyes
Similar to hair, there are 5 basic eye colours: Blue, grey, brown, green and hazel. Let’s take a look at what colours will work best with each eye colour.
Blue eyes: Blue eyes undoubtedly look best with eyeshadows that have yellow and orange undertones such as golds and coppers. Wearing these colours will really enhance the vibrancy of blue eyes.
Grey eyes: Grey eyes are less common, but will look great with more vibrant eyeshadow colours. A smokey eye will look great on grey eyes as the dark colours will contrast greatly with the lightness of the grey.
Brown eyes: Brown eyes are the most common eye colour and look great with most eyeshadow colours, from neutral browns, to vibrant greens, warm cranberry, to glittering golds and coppers.
Green eyes: Green eyes, you guessed it, looks great with red tones, such as cranberries, maroons, burgundys and reddy browns! A brilliant red lip will also make green eyes pop.
Hazel eyes: Hazel eyes are also a very common eye colour, and are a mixture of green and brown. This means that both the colours that suit brown eyes AND green eyes will look amazing on hazel eyes!
Create the perfect autumnal look
So now that we know what colours to choose to suit our unique selves best, why not make the most of the beautiful autumn by creating the perfect, natural autumnal makeup look to suit any occasion and more importantly to suit you!
You can choose cool or warm tones of autumn to suit your look, pick autumnal forest greens to suit vibrant red hair, pick firey copper to suit blue eyes, or pick ruby red to suit cool toned grey hair!
Here at V Claire we have carefully selected some beautiful eco certified natural and organic makeup products from Couleur Caramel to help you achieve a natural glow this autumn. Couleur Caramel is an all natural and organic eco certified makeup brand from France. The brand specializes in creating makeup that is made of organically sourced natural plant extracts to not only create a beautiful makeup look, but also to treat and nourish the skin.
Here is a step by step on how to create the look:
- Hydrajeunesse Foundation – apply using a foundation brush or finger tips all over the face and neck to even out the skin tone and create a natural skin finish.
- Couleur Caramel Bronzer no. 23 – apply using a smaller fluffy brush in sweeping motions, to the cheekbones, forehead and bridge of the nose to bring a warm glow to the skin.
- Couleur Caramel blusher no. 53 – apply using a small fluffy brush to the apples of the cheeks blending upwards and outwards.
- Couleur Caramel iridescent copper eyeshadow no. 99 – apply to the entire lid using finger tips and blend outwards with a small brush to create a natural, subtle smokey effect.
- Couleur Caramel liquid eyeliner no.7 – apply the liquid liner carefully to the upper outer lash line, creating a small flick if desired.
- Couleur Caramel lengthening mascara no. 42 – apply to the upper and lower lashes to create a natural lift.
- Couleur Caramel creamy iridescent lipstick no. 224 rust brown – apply to the entire lips, applying in multiple layers to increase the intensity of the colour if desired. (Worn famously by our lovely senior therapist and manager Marie at our salon in Harold’s Cross!)
(click on the image above to go to Couleur Caramel Hydra Jeuensse foundations on our website!)
Start your skincare journey with us today: book your facial or purchase our products at www.vclairenaturalbeauty.ie , or call us at 01 497 8833 or Book Online
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