How To: Match My Makeup With My Outfit...

Has it ever happened to you when you very excitedly decide on an outfit that you want to wear for an occasion but are at a complete loss of the kind of makeup palette to choose? Have you ever been left at the curb wondering if a blue eye-shadow with a blue dress would seriously be a good idea? Let me talk about how I prefer choosing my makeup palette with the color of my outfit... It is in no way the only way or may be the most correct way to go about but it sure helps me out of sticky makeup situations ;)

My mantra is COMPLEMENTING. I in no way ever go about matching the colors in my dress to the color of my eye-shadow or liner or lipstick. All I do is decide on the colors that complement the colors in my outfit. This is a rule that I follow in general but I do have some exceptions to this rule of mine. Also do note that the colors in my make-up do follow a certain rule where the occasion or the time of day is concerned. For example my color palette for work certainly revolves around neutrals, taupe, browns and subdued greys for the eyes and natural pinks, nude and light browns for the lips. But come a wedding or a night out in the club and I unleash the drama queen that I am through my makeup :P

So anyways, coming back to complementing colors, what I mean here is that rather than blindly going for a matching-matching contest between the outfit color and the eye-shadow color, it is preferable to choose your lip color or eye color that would complement your dress. For example, if you are wearing a red dress, I would refrain from going for a Red Lip... Rather I would go for a say smoky eye and a neutral lip look, or if I am wearing a Navy Blue outfit, I would go for golden eyes and red lips. Imagine it and I am sure you will get a hang of it ;)

Here is a little chart that would help you understand my thought process while deciding on my makeup according to occasion:
1. Indian Weddings and similar functions
    Your outfit be really bright and colorful with a lot of either golden, silver, bronze of copper... Would suggest you to go for dual eye shadows blended well out of which one should definitely be either golden, silver, bronze or copper matching your outfit and the other shadow should be of the color that is least present in your dress. Lips should either be pink or Orange or Red according to the family of colors present in your outfit.

Copper eyes with Red Lips

Golden and Cranberry Eyes with Fuschia Lips

2. Formal Evening Occasions
    Either go for nude shadows and bold matte lips that complement and not match the outfit, or go for bold eye makeup and nude lips.

3. Casual Occasions
    Nude lips with bright complementing eye shadow shades or a bright lippy with slightly defined eyes :)

4. Work Wear
    Accented eyes and nude lips :)

Defined eyes and nude lips

Let me know if you would like to me to write about any specific occasions, functions or outfits... I would love to suggest you on them too :)

 

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Makeup Trends for Summer 2011

With a warm good bye to the winters and a cheery Aloha to the summers, it is that time of the year when new trends in make-up are set and thus followed!

Ramps all over are either ablaze with various pops of color or are seen serene and calm in nude looks (strictly make-up!)... This contrast in trends is forecasted to be a lot of fun this season and will give one a lot of scope to experiment and play around with colors! Yay! What FUN!

So listing out the trends for the upcoming season:

1. BOLD LIPS

Now this isn’t really a new trend! Bold lips have been doing the rounds on the fashion circuit for quite sometime now and they still have another season to stay! Colors that are most in vogue this summer are bright reds, bright pinks and bright berries. The keyword here is bright and with neutral eyes and cheeks you are all set to go!

2. BRIGHT EYES

Dior chose to add a lot of attention to the eyes of the models and thus opted for bright colored eye shadows in the fashion week. This trend focuses more on enhancing one’s eyes and if the shape of your eyes is gorgeous then this trend is for you! The idea is to make one’s look graphic and playful by using single bright colored shadows like Coral, Orange, Fuschia, Turq Blue, Neon Green and even Yellow! Paired with nude lips and a hint of blush, you are all set to paint the town RED!

3. NUDE MAKE-UP

This trend is all about flawless skin, innocent looks and natural beauty. As this look suits all ages, thus it is a very popular trend. The idea is to prime your face, apply concealer and foundation with light coverage, just a hint of blush, a brown or grey eye liner and a nude or clear lip gloss and you are all set to rock this look! With make-up as nude or natural as this, you might need to accessorize a bit more!

4. BRONZE MAKE-UP

This trend translates to "one step ahead of Nude Make-up" and is a favorite with a lot of people during the summers. It aims at providing a natural, glowy look and creates a warm sun-kissed look. This can be achieved by wearing a tinted moisturizer, a subtle bronze eye shadow and a bronzer or bronze blush to your cheeks. A coral, peach or nude gloss looks best with this. This look is enhanced when one's hair is done in an updo!

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