The Right Colors

I've had many people ask me over the years " What colours should I be wearing". I'm not gonna lie, there is no easy answer to that. Sure there are guidlines that can be followed but they aren't going to work for everyone. I get frustrated when I read things that say if your eye color is this you should wear this. Many times they assume if you have dark hair then you will have darker skin, or if you have brown hair you will have blue eyes. HA! I have dark brown hair, blue eyes and pale pale skin that burns.

The point I'm trying to make is that it all depends on a variety of factors such as your skin tone, hair color, eye color etc. It's going to be a lot of trial and error. Something that looks awesome on your best friend might not look great on you and vice versa.

That being said, there are some ways to narrow things down:

Look at the veins on the inside of your wrist. Are they green looking or blue, or a combination of both?
If they are blue you probably fit more into the cool range of things. You can probably wear blues, purple, grey, silver, white, black.
If they are green you are probably warmer toned. You would look at warm colors such as yellow, orange, red, peach, gold and ivory.

In between cool and warm is the neutral zone: pink, brown and green (bet you didn't know pink and green were neutral did you!)

That will give you someplace to start your search. Additionally you can look at eyeshadows in terms of your eye color.

Blue eyed people will ususally look good in:

• taupe
• light grey
• heather
• greyish brown
• purpleish brown

People with green eyes will usually look good in:

• yellow toned beige
• heather
• moss green
• greyish brown
• taupe

People with brown eyes will ususally look good in:

• grey beige
• medium brown
• khaki green

Sometimes you have to go a bit out of your comfort zone to find something that looks really fantastic on you. Thats' how I found my holy grail of lipgloss. (To follow in a seperate blog)

Drugstore vs Department Store

If there is one thing I have learned over the years from many many makeup purchases, it is that you don't have to spend lots of money on department store makeup to look good. Did you know that Lancome and L'oreal Paris are part of the same company? Many of the L'oreal products are the same or very similar to the Lancome products. Why spend more?

I've found you can get wonderful foundations, concealers, mascaras and lipstick/gloss at the drugstore. That's where I get most of mine (well except concealer - I have super dark circles so I need HEAVY duty coverage). There are two things I reccomend people splurge on: 1) eyeshadow and 2) blush. The reasons are the same for both. Professional eyeshadows and blushes are highly pigmented meaning a little goes a long way. You need to use a lot less than you would a cheaper version. (Oh and please don't ever use the tiny brush that comes with drugstore blushes to apply your blush unless you want to look like you have racing stripes on your cheeks!)

If I have a chance, later I will come back and post some of my favorite drugstore finds.

Why I'm here

8 years ago I took a makeup artistry course. I loved it. I've always been obsessed with makeup and doing makeovers (just ask my mom!). Unfortunately the time wasn't right for me to persue a career in makeup artistry. I had also just graduated from University and had $30,000 worth of student loans to pay off, I had no vehicle so getting around was difficult, and I didn't really have enough money to spend on a good kit. Most of the work for a makeup artist is freelance and I wasn't confident that I could make a go of it and still pay my rent and student loans. I got a full time job in radio and that was that.

Well fast forward to now. I still have a full time job that I like but I decided this is something I want to do for fun. I really enjoy makeup and I hope to be able to help others.

Thats the long and short of it. I hope I have time between my full time job in marketing and my new freelance job to come here and update this blog with little beauty tips, tidbits and advice.