Have you ever been scared to wear colorful makeup? If so, how did you get over your fear?
Put it on and wear it… at home. It has more to do with being comfortable in your own skin and owning the look you wear than anything else.
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Absolutely not! I wear what I want, where I want, when I want it. 🙂
Yup! My face doesn’t play well with brights. I’m definitely a neutral girl and I’ll occasionally throw in a vampy lip here or there, but overly colorful looks aren’t flattering on me.
They’re probably more flattering on you than you think – we’re just conditioned by society on what’s “flattering” and “acceptable.”
I still am! Bright lipsticks scare me. I love how they look on other people, but I’m so not confident enough to wear it outside my house. I get very self-conscious about my teeth (which are not the whitest in the world) and I’m always checking to make sure I don’t have ring around the lips and…yeah, it’s not my thing. But I’m trying to expand my horizons.
Yeah, my coffee stained teeth can cause anxiety.
I love bright lipstick, but I’ve never really been able to wear bright eyeshadow. Whenever I put it on I feel like it ages me, and that it clashes with my presonal style. Bright lipstick is more elegant and retro-feeling, so I find it easier to work with.
I’m ridiculously fair too (NC/NW 0/5) but I love my bold bright colors. The downside for me is actually because I’m SO fair that the bright colors don’t look bright enough on me and it aggravates me so much! Of maybe something that is touted as pastel looks more like a midtone on me skin T^T and I really hate want neutrals or neutrals in general. Ages me white a bit of out right unflattering.
I guess it’s part of the whole personal style thing
yeah…i hate how there are sooo few lip shades that look pastel on me
Besides, Mint to Be and New Yolk City by Lime Crime (and even those darken significantly on my skin), I haven’t really found lip colors that look pastel on me. I’m still hunting down a true pastel baby pink. Barry M’s one looks promising. Oh and Illamasqua’s Cream Pigment in Bedaub is the same color as Mint to Be and I love it as well! For eyes and lips!
Oh no, I posted on the wrong comment Dx oops it was meant for Laurar. Darn phone.
You know how people have comfort zones in makeup? Mine is a bit flipped. If I were to wear makeup, I have to wear some kind of bright color, or color in general. Nudes, especially bronzy nudes give me anxiety xD Plus anything that is bronzy or a warm brown is extremely unflattering on my skin. Cool nudes suits me better but I still borderline hate them. I rather just not wear makeup at all instead of wearing nudes. When I play with makeup, it must be colors! They make me the happiest.
I have exactly the same thing. I would later find out (a couple of years ago) that it’s due to my colour season and skintone that neutrals don’t really suit me – I’m a clear winter and cool toned, and many popular neutrals can make me look really sickly, where I get loads of compliments when I wear colours others would consider “forbidden” or crazy – like hot pink eyeshadow! I can get away with some cooler neutrals (like UD Mushroom – probably my favourite neutral) and metallics but I need to use them very carefully.
That said I was nervous about bright lipsticks for years – I don’t have nice dental work and was scared to draw attention to my mouth. These days I realise it’s not actually that bad so I might as well try everything I like. And it looks better!
Interesting… I’m a Clear Winter, as well, and neutrals work very well for me. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of personal taste and/or aesthetic.
I know for me it’s not just personal aesthetic, as the comments I receive speak for themselves. If I’m wearing colour, I get compliments, “that colour looks great on you” and such, but only ever “you look tired” “are you feeling okay?” if I’m trying to go neutral. Like I said though there are a few that I can do if I’m careful with them. But I can guarantee that if I pass a mirror and think “oh man I look ill what’s up with me” the culprit is usually that I’ve tried to go with a neutral eye!
Pairing neutrals with colour can work out well though. 🙂
I definitely agree with you! It’s so interesting to find people like me that gets agitated by nudey “natural” colors xD
I’m somewhat older but guess I was influenced by my great aunt who absolutely loved brightly colored makeup. I agree with XAMYX it IS a matter of personal choice and degree of self-confidence.
I have no idea what a winter is, is it the same as having a cool skin tone or an overall light complexion? I am actually not cool-toned. My skin undertone is very neutral and my skin is extremely light (NC/NW 0-5). My hair is naturally black and my eyes are a deep brown.
Definitely try bright lip colors! 😀 I find it when I’m lazy but need a pick me up, a bright lipstick does wonders! I also love wearing unusual colors like mint, pastel yellow, and dark blue lip colors. 🙂
Colour seasonal analysis is quite a difficult thing to explain in a comment, but here’s a link http://www.thechicfashionista.com/seasonal-color-analysis.html. 🙂 Basically you have 4 seasons, of which Autumn and Spring are warm, Winter and Summer are cool, then each is further divided into e.g. Soft, Deep, Clear etc. It looks at the combination of skintone, hair colour, eye colour and overtones to find your most flattering shades. As a clear winter I have dark brown hair, bright blue eyes and very pale skin with pink undertones. Bright colours look far better on that season than more muted shades – again, glad I found out why I always looked bad when trying to go soft! Hope this helps. 🙂
For me, it could partly becaus do have an extremely baby doll face (I’m Chinese, people always think I’m much younger than my actual age). Neutrals ages me so so much. I even dislike black eyeliner most of the time, browns too. Very aging on me.
I’m the exact same way! I believe I’m a clear winter as well, and I know for a fact that I’m cool toned. I can kind of make the neutrals look okay, but it just doesn’t feel right. Like something is off. Give me my blues, purples, and hot pinks any day! =P
I find that colourful eyeshadow looks very unflattering on me, but I’m working my way up to wearing bright lipsticks (I love oranges and corals!)
Never been afraid of colourful nail polish, though.
It’s not so much “fear” as it is simply a personal preference; I just don’t care for certain shades/colors. I wear dramatic, OTT looks (when appropriate), which are dark, vampy, & intense (ie, red eyeshadow, black lipstick, etc), but I absolutely refuse to wear a bright pink lipstick, or a bright, unnatural looking blush shade. Again, it’s a personal aesthetic choice, as I just don’t care for certain products on my own face.
nope!
YES! One of my favorite looks is lots of lashes and a bright-colored lip! I see people pull it off beautifully and it looks so effortless, but when I do it…I don’t know, it just doesn’t quite work. I have fuller lips and I feel like the lip color just takes over my whole face, if that makes sense. Like, “BAM!! she’s got lips!!” or something. LOL I’ve seen women with lips fuller than mine and they look STUNNING with red or almost-neon pink lipstick, but it just doesn’t work for me. I know it is just a comfort thing, so maybe wearing it at home in my pajamas for a while might help me get over it…LOL. Could lead to some glamourous lounging…my cat may be impressed LOL!! 😛
Yes, yes, yes! I feel the same way!
Not at all :). I quite enjoy color on my eyes. But it all depends on what is meant by colorful… I wouldn’t wear several bright colors put together in one look (a parrot comes to mind), but only because it’s not my style. But I do wear a lot of color. I love to wear blue, navy, green, purple, mauve, pink on my eyes. Even though I do like wearing neutral, earthy tones and I love a nice brown smokey eye, I’m definitely not a neutrals’ person. I’ll go for a mauve/purple/plum look rather than – let’s say – a brown one… If that makes any sense lol…
I am such a chicken when it comes to wearing bold colors. I love all of these bright lipsticks you have been reviewing but I feel like when I wear them everyone is going to be looking at me. I have so many eyeshadow palettes (like urban decays BOS) but I hardly ever play around with the colors. I think I am going to take your suggestion and do my makeup real fun this weekend, even if I am only hanging around the house. Who knows maybe I will get some guts and go out! haha
I tend to say away from brights. Maybe I need to rethink that and break out my box.
I’m not scared of bright eye shadows, just about anything looks good with my green eyes as long as it’s done right. I’ve only started venturing into bolder lip colors though. I’ve graduate from chap stick to colored lip gloss and now to big girl lipstick, but I still haven’t tried bright red or pink yet! Maybe someday…
Totally! I’m super super fair, so bold colors look that much more intense on me. When I’m in shape I feel more confident in wearing bold colors, but when I’ve gained a few pounds I don’t want to look like I’m trying too hard so I wear neutral colors. I know it shouldn’t matter, but for me it does.
I’m ridiculously fair too (NC/NW 0/5) but I love my bold bright colors. The downside for me is actually because I’m SO fair that the bright colors don’t look bright enough on me and it aggravates me so much! Of maybe something that is touted as pastel looks more like a midtone on me skin T^T and I really hate want neutrals or neutrals in general. Ages me white a bit of out right unflattering.
I guess it’s part of the whole personal style thing
I’m not afraid of bright make up, but there have been times when a particular color scares me. One thing I’ll do is put it on sheer at first and build my way up to more full coverage.
Yes. Everyone I know either wears no makeup or only wears mascara. Just by wearing neutral eyeshadow and a neutral lip color I already stand out.
Plus I work for a company with a bunch of young dudes in grungy work jumpsuits and elderly folks…not really the place for a neon pink lip even though I think it would be neat to wear one.
Usually am afraid to go too colorful – I don’t want to look like Rachel when Ross did her makeup.
Not now (Im 27) but when I was 18, I was a bit afraid to look like a “whore” XD according to men XD Im from South America
i hate people like those you described, those men don’t deserve attention.
Unless they’re paying money to pick one up from a street corner or whatever, men don’t really have the right to go around calling any and all other women whores.
(Not that I have anything against prostitution, as far as I am concerned they don’t deserve derogatory names or behaviour either), so any guy that writes you off just for wearing makeup with a “psuedo” label can go rot in Aitch – Eee – Double Hockey Sticks for all I care.
Not afraid of colorful eyeshadow. But I am sometimes reluctant to do a bold lip. My lips are full and sometimes I fear of making them too full.
I have the same concern for opposite reason..I have thinner lips, especially the upper lip. When I try wearing bold lip color all I see is liver lips. Not attractive. But give me a purple eyeshadow and I’m happy.
I don’t buy things I wouldn’t wear out. Sure sometimes maybe some people probably see me and think my my makeup is “loud” but I think I’m young and beautiful and fabulous, and if it makes me feel good, then that’s all that matters. I wear makeup to express myself and I’m not scared to do that.
I need to adopt that attitude…well, not the “young” part as I’m in my late 30s. 🙂
Quite the opposite. An all neutral face ( on myself ) bores me. At least one feature should be allowed to pop!
Not really! Being able to play with colors is the reason I care about makeup in the first place (once upon a time I only did natural looks and it felt like a waste of time unless it was a special occasion) so I can just throw on whatever I want and feel like I’m rocking it even if other people might find it weird.
ya, sometimes, cause of what ignorant people say. but that also makes me wanna wear it eventually because its them who are close-minded if they comment on it.
I love bright blushes like Burberry Hydrangea Pink which obviously i wear it sheerly as i have pale skin. It looks beautiful as a natural glow.
I always define my eyebrows and that always complements my eyes and my face.
I don’t like bold eyeshadows and bold lipsticks and Tinted lipbalm and lipgloss i find work best for me.
Once I was totally afraid of bold and bright makeup because many of the girls around me tended to stick on neutral, natural, no makeup (literally) trend that made me feel awkward to put on vibrant colors.
When I grew up a lot of things changed so did makeup trend.
Therefore I had no worry to wear anything I wanted as long as I felt comfortable with.
I like to keep balance of the whole look, like if I’m gonna wear a very bright lip color I’ll match it with softer eyes and natural cheeks, or bold eyes with neutral lips. It helps you look not so overdone.
I love COLOR and use it often. More evening than day. When I worked, I stayed neutral tho. Don’t remember being afraid. One exception, I don’t use unusual colors on lips and can’t wear nail polish but would really rock that if I could.
NEVER!!
Up until two years ago, I used to be afraid to wear red lips outside of the house. I finally decided to just toughen up and wear the look to a formal event one evening. I got so many compliments on my makeup, and that was just the confidence boost I needed. Now, I’m no longer afraid to break out my red lip colors for special occasions!
I love brights with a passion but I’m not ashamed to say I can get frightened sometimes. Currently working up the courage to wear my orange Sleek lipstick out!
I absolutely agree with your advice! I used to be so conservative with my makeup choices and only wore things that looked completely natural. While I still think that can be a very pretty look, I’m much more bold now with my color choices, and nudes tend to bore me!
For me, it was totally about getting used to seeing the makeup on my face. I can see how wearing “scary” colors around your home could make you even feel comfortable enough to eventually wear them out. If nothing else, you get the thrill of wearing it for yourself! I don’t think makeup has to be so serious or something you do for other people.
Nah, you just gotta make it work for you.
Wear a really eye poppingly vivid lipstick as a stain and then slick some gloss over, wear bright coloured liner on a nude eye (bright cobalt blue is a favourite of mine) but go ahead and use deeper, darker liner colours like navy and plum if that’s where you’re comfort zone is.
Blot really intense lip colours or even just wear a really different nsil colour if you want to start out more sedately.
It’s supposed to be fun, not scary!
My difficulty is with wearing muted lip colors – I feel far more comfortable in a bold red or pink lipstick than in a nude or conservative lipcolor. Eye looks can go either way for me – both neutral and colorful looks work on me.
I am only “afraid” to wear colorful (I mean really LOUD) makeup because I am older. When I was in my teens and twenties and even early thirties, I would wear it often. Very comfortably, too. I want to commend Christine for her openness to all cosmetics, and that goes for trying them on, too. Thanks for all you do for us readers out here in cyberspace!! xoxo Beth in Pgh
yeah, it’s unfortunate : ( I have bright blues and pinks in some of my UD palettes and they get no love : ( I just don’t know how to wear them in a flattering way.
My skin is medium-tan (biracial) and bright colors just don’t work for me. I also can’t do a bright lip because my lips are too big and it looks clownish boooooo
Yes, definitely. It took me a while to wear bright pink or orange lipstick, or purple eyeshadow. So many people feel that it’s “tacky” or “childish” to go outside of the classics and neutrals and I was terrified that I’d get made fun of (LOL). But on days where I don’t really care what people think and I have time, I just go for it. As a result, over time I’ve grown more confident and don’t really care in general what people think. Now, I do need a little more time with deeper lipstick colors because I have a young face and it’s not as easy to pull those off. But I’m much more open to giving them a shot.