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Temptalia Asks You - How do you decide what color makeup to wear?


How do you decide what color makeup to wear? Do you just think of a random color combination and go from there? Do you look around the room for inspiration? What helps you make a choice?

I tend to try to think of a color combination randomly, or else I will pick something to wear and then make a color combination based on the colors of my clothes.

50 Comments

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cosine Avatar

Hmmm… I don’t really care though.. its more like my accessories will match my make up rather than my clothes… For example, I’ll do a purple eye and then add lots of purple accessories but I’ll wear a cherry pink tee or something…

Jenny Avatar

Time decides what color my eye makeup will be, haha =) If I have a lot of time, I’ll use vibrant colors that somewhat mimic my outfit. If I’m ‘running late’, then I use neutral colors.. something I can’t really muddy up if I’m applying in a hurry.

ilovecheese Avatar

8 out of 10 times it depends on my clothes – the other two times it is on my mood – sunny or blue (which would require bright colours to cheer me up!).

dee Avatar

It’s usually decided by clothes or accessories. Today it’s a white shirt, blue jeans, black boots and light blue earrings, so my eyeshadow is pale blue/silver with a darker blue eyeliner.

emw Avatar

i usually choose colours that suit my skintone and hair colour … u cant go wrong there. i dont like to go too matchy matchy in terms of the make up i wear and the clothes/accessories that i have on. d colours i choose also depends on my mood … if im feeling down and i wanna feel sexier i will wear a smoky eye for example. the colours i wear also change on a seasonal basis depending on wats trendy (and i adapt trends to suit me .. if the trend is bold orange lips i mite go for toned down coral lips) and the weather. i always go for bronzy gold shimmery make up during the summer!!

Critty Avatar

I usually decide what feature I want to play up and go from there. If I have something I want to take attention away from (like a zit on my chin) I will do a colorful or smoky eye and nude lips. If I have huge bags under my eyes, I might to a light frosty eye and a bold mouth. THEN I try and find something in my closet to match my look.

Dawn Avatar

it all depends for me. Sometimes I like to match my shadows with whatever shirt I am wearing; most times I wear whatever color fits my mood, if I am feeling fun, bold and flirty I will wear bright colors like blues, reds or golds and If I am feeling dark and mysterious I stick to neutrals and dark like smokey eyes, purples etc. I love make up. it’s all about how i am feeling

Erin Avatar

It really depends on how much time I have to think about it. That means my poor fiance gets to sit around on Friday night waiting because it’s the first chance I’ve had to play all week.

gracee Avatar

i wear makeup on school days randomly. i usually go with champagne eye makeup or a bright liner. i also go seasonally so in the summer i go for more of the bronze beach look.

Ping. Avatar

usually I decide through my outing for day or night. Sometimes also depend on how natural or heavy make up I wanted. Its funny sometimes, I want to apply make up yet I still would like to look natural.

Kristen Avatar

I usually base it on what I’m wearing. If I’m in a hurry, I’ll just do neutral eyes and face since I could do the look in my sleep and it goes w/ everything.

Lydia Avatar

Sometimes I look for inspiration… but if I’m in a hurry to go to work I just do something random… I like the Smashbox eyeshadows that come in like a circle pot that has like 6 colors in there because then I can mix and match the colors but they all look nice together.

victoria Avatar

depends on what i’m wearing. if i’m wearing neutrals, like a navy blue peacoat or browns, i usually go crazy with my eye colors because head to toe neutrals, it would be boring. but if i’m wearing something colorful, i have to tone down my makeup and stick to golds and bronze. even if i tone down, i always have something shimmery because i love shimmery e/s. the only time i would wear a neutral matte eye is when i’m wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans.

Rabi Avatar

I usually narrow my choices down by what I’m wearing for the color range of the day, but it will also depend on how my skin is looking (if I’m having a great skin day, I’ll pare down the colors and go for a more neutral, natural look). It also depends on what my day looks like. It it’s a look that would require a lot of touchups during the day, and I have a busy day, I’ll pass.

christine Avatar

It depends on how much time I have. If I’m in a hurry I’ll just wear eyeliner and fake lashes. If I had a little more time then I’ll do colors that match my mood.

Kris Avatar

depends on my mood/ where i’m going and what i’m wearing
lately i really heart matching my earrings to my eye shadow color LOL
And good lord have i got some carnival eyes for you!

Skyler Avatar

Quite simply: you! 😀 You are a huuuge part of my make-up choices each day. (Today I did your N look with Neutral Pink.) I use a lot of your Looks/Tutorials each week, as well as Leesha’s videos. I have a folder of saved looks (as well as LJ memories) that I can go through as well. Sometimes I come up with my own things entirely, but more frequently, I use the basis of a look I find and then put my own spin on it.

I usually have the colours the looks use in the file name/link name, so if I’m wearing x colour and want an x colour look, I will go hunting for something in that colour category. Also, I do this THE NIGHT BEFORE. Haha. It would take me forever choosing colours and digging them out from my massively messy storage system right now (I just don’t have the room–the only thing that is properly stored is my pigments/glitters since I have that rack Doug made me). If I forget to do this the night before, I just do something quick or–gasp–the same look I did the day before since the stuff is already out.

Christine Avatar

AWW! I’m so flattered, Skyler, honest 🙂 I think it’s such a great idea that you save looks you see and like. It’s smarter than hoping they’re still online. Haha, I was going to ask how you find the time, but now it makes sense. No different than planning an outfit in advance!

Rise Avatar

But mostly I have no clue. I have brown hair and blue eyes and very light skin, with blonde eyebrows…if anyone has any tips, let me know! You could leave a comment on my website (which runs on WordPress, too).

T. Avatar

I know this is supposed to be a BIG “no no”, but I match my shadow to my clothes…to a certain extent. I don’t get crazy and use every shade of purple under the sun if I’m wearing a purple sweater; but instead I add one accent of purple. Either as the contour/crease color, or even liner is where I’ll get somewhat “matchy”.

Also, just experimenting is a heck of a lot of fun! And “shopping” through my stash helps me break the habit of doing the same stuff everyday. And I usually try to decide what I’m going to wear and pull out my products the night before to help prevent rushing in the morning (who am I kidding, I’m STILL a minute or two late to work! ;D).

Julie Avatar

I used to match my makeup to my clothes, but I’ve started to just put on whatever I feel like at the moment!
🙂

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