I like the way a lot of them look – but they can be more challenging to use, and sometimes it’s more about what you pair that “unflattering” color with that makes the difference.
— Christine
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I wear colours that I think look good with my skin tone. I don’t really care whether they’re labelled as flattering or not. For example, MAC Creme Cup, for example, is supposed to look good with my skin because of its undertones, but seriously doesn’t because of how light my skin is.
With eyeshadows, I find that undertone doesn’t make much of a difference in terms of whether it flatters me or not.
” I can make a rainbow” on my face! Yes golds, bronzes and other warm metallics may not be best suited to my coloring, but I do make a go of it. I think it might be more that I overdid the bronzes and coppers in my youth, so I tend to steer clear of them. But I still use gold eyeshadows. I am far more influenced by whether my hair is blue black or flaming orange when it comes to choosing cosmetic colors. Although I remember the first lipstick I ever gave to my mother was Plastique. Meh I’m all befuddled. I lived through the “Faux Aussie” 80’s craze with all the romanticized natural redhead shades. Everyone wore pink shirts and olive pants, regardless of coloring, and again copper and bronze EVERYwhere! Poor Australia, double poor natural redheads in their color ghetto 🙁
I disregard any preconceived status quo surrounding blushes and skin tones. I am fairly pale- B12 in Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua–and I have the palest of blushes, which are so much easier to use since I’m pale, and then I have deep berries and reds like Tarte’s Blushing Bride (powder form, not the stain) and MAC’s Fever, which is one of my favorites…I just have to use a super light hand or else I would look like I have a 190 degree fever. I also don’t pay attention to using a warm tone blush to complement my ever-so slight yellow undertones. A cool blush or a warm blush makes no difference to me as long as I love the color. All I look for is a fun or pretty color that I would like to use.
It depends on what the color is and how it’s unflattering to my appearance. For instance, I’ll staunchly avoid burgundies and purplish red shades because they give me the appearance of bruises on my fair skin. On the other hand, I don’t generally have a problem with warmer lip shades or gold/copper eyeshadows as long as I offset them with neutrals in other areas of my face.
My skin couldn’t be more yellow-toned, but I love cool-toned pink lipsticks like NARS Schiap and Lancome Love It… i think as long as i pair it with a neutral blush and eye it doesn’t look tacky. My only issue is with orange lipsticks, which make my teeth look really yellow! any suggestions there?
Hi Christine,
What do you mean by “sometimes it’s more about what you pair that “unflattering” color with that makes the difference”? Do you pair “unflattering” shades with “flattering” shades to balance it, or do you pair it with similarly “unflattering” shades for unity? Do you offset or match the colors in your accessories and clothing to balance your makeup? I’ll admit, I’m a bit lost when it comes to what does and doesn’t look good on skintone X and eyecolor Y etc. and how to make color Z work with X and Y. If you have some magic color balance method up your sleeve (don’t hide it, I know you do 😉 ) then please, for my poor makeup mishapy self’s sake, spill. Thanks!
There’s no real secret – I’ve written about it before – it’s more of a trial & error process. Generally, I pair cool lips with either cool blush or cool eyeshadow, but all three may not be cool.
I really don’t like grey and v pale colors on my eyes, like pale lavender or celery green or pale orange n sky blue. For lips i dont like those Ghostly nudes.im medium Tone with warm under tones.
I don’t know what “supposedly unflattering” means. I know what colours and looks don’t flatter me (nude lips, peach/orange toned anything) and I don’t wear them since I wear makeup to look nicer and to FEEL that I look nicer and I don’t feel that I look good in those colours/looks.
On my face, I tend to stick within my comfort zone of colors that flatter my skin tone. However, anything goes on my nails!
Im pale with cool undertones and I love wearing bronze and gold on my eyes. I use a bit of bronzer to bring my skin to a more neutral shade to make it work.
Supposedly redheads aren’t supposed to wear pinks & oranges, but I find that those are the colors that look better on me. I can never really wear cooler tones (I have found like 3 eye shadows that work on me) and I can forget about grays completely. But yet I look well in bright orange lipstick.
Yes, I wear highlighters that are suppose to be for lighter skin all the time…:) Also, I wear lipsticks that wash me out with a liner or gloss and it looks nice.
Nah, I need colors to suit me, otherwise I wouldn’t feel comfortable. I admire people who have the courage to wear anything they like, though.
no, oranges, reds and yellows look awful on my eyes so. i dont even bother with those colors
All the time! Mostly lipsticks. I’m a cool toned very fair skinned 20 year old, but I lobe to wear corals, blue AND yellow based red, deep rasperries, etc etc. I’ll even wear peach eyeshadows. You name it I’ll wear it. I think it might be mostly due to the fact that I have nice lips, face structure, and skin that I can pull a lot of stuff off (not trying to be vain here, just honest).
I say go for it! I have blue eyes, brown and purple hair and fair skin. I love doing different makeup looks everyday. I used to fear pink and purple on my eyes due to looking like I got punched. But it’s all about finding the right shade of pink and the right shades of purple. Once you discover the right shade of each color that works for you; the World is your palette.
I think pink is not my color. I can use it a little bit in combination with other colors on my eyes but never on cheeks or lips, it looks awfull on me.
I do it all the time. For example these bright coral lipsticks that are in, and look amazing with fair skin- I wear it too, on my dark skin. The key is when you have dark skin, use less product, apply with a lip brush and also use a darker lip lne.
Yeah, I tend to like the stuff that isn’t supposed to work with my skin tone on me more than colors that are supposed to work for me, especially when it comes to lipsticks! Eyeshadows I’ll just wear whatever and not care if it suits me at all.
Yes yes yes! Especially the sort of makeup recommendations you see in magazines. I’m pretty fair, but because I have warm undertones and pigmented lips, so light pink lip colors look sort of scary on me. Give me the deep berry shades they recommend to the olive toned girls any day!
I wear what I like, and what I think looks good. My personal style is an eclectic mix of Bohemian, Goth, and Corporate, so I tend to steer clear of über-brights & pastels, although they do, in theory, look good on me. If it doesn’t work with my clothing, then it won’t work on my face.
When I read what colors are supposed to be “flattering”, I don’t take away the idea that one *can’t* wear certain shades, or the can *only* wear others, but instead, these are merely guides to point women in a mainstream, generalized direction. Personal style & taste are key factors, and many women don’t go for mainstream fashion.
Not really. I’m warm-toned and I can’t wear anything with noticeable purple tones, or it makes me look dead. Cool-toned pink lipstick looks bizarre on me. Oddly enough, oranges and coppers on my eyes look bad on me as well.
The only thing that is technically cool-toned that I wear on a regular basis is taupe eyeshadow, and only ones that aren’t purple-based. I also like silvers and grays, though in my opinion those are more neutral.
Also, blue-based red lipstick makes me look old.
I don’t know what’s supposedly unflattering for me, I just know what’s unflattering for me. I have a really yellow-leaning nude lipstick by Nyx that I ordered online…probably would’ve skipped it if I’d seen it in person, but I tried it anyway, since I wasn’t going to ship back a $4 lipstick. SO AWFUL on me.
I’ve rocked like every shade of eyeshadow there is, though, so if I someone told me a certain shade of that would be unflattering, I’d laugh and do it anyway.