I’m following the Wardrobe Architect series to help me build a well curated collection of hand-made clothes. You can find all my Wardrobe Architect posts in their own category. This is my second Wardrobe Architect series post about Hair(styles), makeup and beauty.
Today I am thinking about the relationship between my core style and my makeup and I will show you how to choose colours that suit your skin tone using a phone app.
My Core Style and Makeup
The following are my core style description words:
Unique ~ I don’t want to wear makeup that turns me into a template of contemporary beauty ideals. I’m happy to let who I am, including my age and imperfections show.
Creative ~ I like to have some opportunity to change my hairstyle and makeup. Sometimes, I want to put on a different face.
Comfortable ~ I don’t want my hair or makeup to feel uncomfortable. I’m not willing to suffer.
Active ~ I don’t want my hair or makeup to stop me from doing anything. My look has to be easy to wear and maintain.
Eye-catching with a love of pattern & colour~ I think I’d rather let the pattern and colours of my clothes and accessories do the talking. Mostly, I’ll keep my hair and makeup quiet.
My Makeup Routine
My makeup routine has varied over the years. I’ve always been comfortable wearing no makeup one day and a full face the next.
Recently, I’m getting more pleasure from preparing myself for the day with a make-up routine. My eyes need a little help to stand out and I love how BB cream has moisturiser and sun protection built into a light base.
I try not to collect more makeup and beauty products. I think I already own enough eyeshadow to last several life times. No snake oil for me; I will make do with what I already have or buy inexpensive stuff.
Makeup Palette
When I taught art classes to children, one exercise I did with them was to have them mix their own flesh tone as accurately as they could, trying the paint on their hands for matching. They would start out with pink or brown and be surprised by how much blue or yellow they would have to add. The light skinned kids would usually start with a much lighter colour than they really were and have to mix darker and darker paint. The darker skinned children often found they had to add a lot more pink into their paint to get closer to their skin tones. They loved this exercise!
I’m not strongly opposed to any colour near my face, but I look better in warm colours.
My skin has a yellow undertone so I prefer olive, brown, black, coral and peaches in my makeup palette. My hair looks best in golden reds and blondes and warm browns rather than ash tones.
There are lots of apps you can use to pick colours from a photo as I have done above. Try Adobe Capture, or ColourViewFinder or search for an app under colour picker. Make sure you use a selfie taken in natural light, preferably in a neutral shadow, such as the shade of a building (trees can create a green cast). Take a few pictures in different lights and then colour pick them.
Do the colours you get surprise you?
Autumn Blogging
I have been a more sporadic blogger, this summer, than I hoped. My internet connection is too slow to upload unless I drive to a coffee shop.
I will be back in London next week and back to a more regular schedule. I’m excited to plan my autumn blogging. Is there anything you would like to see me cover? Please send me suggestions.
Don’t you love thinking about autumn clothes? I’ve decided that I won’t buy any clothing this year with the exception of shoes/boots and bras. This year I will commit to a handmade wardrobe.
I think you should write about undergarments, bras etc…
As for this post… How clever you are! Have used apps to generate colour palettes before but never one of myself. Remember the big seasonal colour analysis craze years ago? It was always even more useless for people who didn’t neatly fit into one category. Off to seek ideal lighting conditions!
P.S. Looking forward to your upcoming entirely handmade wardrobe…
Thanks Sus,
There are so many bloggers making beautiful bras. The day will come where I will make my own bras but I’ve found one that fits me, is easy to get, beautiful and affordable, so I don’t feel overwhelmed to make them at the moment. They require many specific notions.
I have made a lot of bodysuits though. I like to make my own shape wear so I will write a post about that.
Oh!! Shape wear!!! That would be very interesting!!
I’ve come here via CSC – your description of bust and shoulders struck some chords.. 😉
Now I’m off to read and enjoy your other posts!
Thank you!!
Thanks Gillian, I will schedule a shape wear post for the autumn.
Good move on the whole “avoiding RTW” thing. I vowed at the start of 2015 not to buy any new clothes for a month (I was a minor shopaholic) and then extended it to a year. I now find I’ve lost all interest in buying clothes. I’ve bought a couple of things this year, but I’m MUCH more thoughtful about where I buy from.
I do, however, have an ever-increasing fabric stash. Oh well, no-one’s perfect.
yeah, I want to avoid transferring my desire of clothes into a desire for fabric. I’m trying to cut down on stuff. I can see moving house in a couple of years and I want to be leaner.