Ever wonder how the professionals always seem to know how to make your eyes “pop” or what colours to use when dying your hair? No matter how many brushes you own or how many tutorials you watch- you will not be able to achieve complimentary looks consistently if you do not understand the fundamentals of the colour wheel. With an understanding of how colours work in relation to each other, you will be able to better identify how to isolate and accentuate certain features and skin tones, better camouflage and or neutralize blemishes and discolouration and even have a better understanding of which colours will work in your wardrobe based on the time of year and what that means for your complexion.
To start, here is the anatomy of the colour wheel and how all of these colours relate to each other:
To start, here is the anatomy of the colour wheel and how all of these colours relate to each other:
The Basics
Primary Colours: Red, Yellow, Blue; colours at their basic essence. These colours cannot be created by mixing; they just are.
Secondary Colours: These colours are achieved by mixing two primary colours.
Tertiary Colours: These colours are achieved by a mixture of primary and secondary colour.
Analogous Colours: Those colours located close together on a colour wheel.
Cool Colours: These are the colours on the left of the wheel; From the purple-red to the Green.
Warm Colours: These are the colours on the right side of the wheel; From Red to the Green-Yellow.
Chroma, intensity, saturation, luminance, shade and tint are all terms used to describe a colour.
Chroma: How pure a hue is in relation to gray.
Saturation: The level of purity of a colour.
Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a hue (colour). One may lower the intensity by adding white or black.
Luminance: A measure of the amount of light reflected from a hue. Hues with a high content of white will have a higher luminance.
Shade: A hue produced by the addition of black.
Tint: A hue produced by the addition of white.
Complimentary colours: Are located opposite each other on the colour wheel.
So now that you understand the basics of colours and how they are achieved- you can begin to understand how to create specific looks, which looks will need to be modified to ensure they are complimentary to you, and how to neutralize some features while accentuating others. Whether you are working with cosmetics, hair colours, or even wardrobe choices, an understanding of how colours interact with each other can allow you to influence focal points and draw the eye away from certain “flaws”. Not only that, it can allow us to not exacerbate certain features- like me and my pasty white skin!
Primary Colours: Red, Yellow, Blue; colours at their basic essence. These colours cannot be created by mixing; they just are.
Secondary Colours: These colours are achieved by mixing two primary colours.
Tertiary Colours: These colours are achieved by a mixture of primary and secondary colour.
Analogous Colours: Those colours located close together on a colour wheel.
Cool Colours: These are the colours on the left of the wheel; From the purple-red to the Green.
Warm Colours: These are the colours on the right side of the wheel; From Red to the Green-Yellow.
Chroma, intensity, saturation, luminance, shade and tint are all terms used to describe a colour.
Chroma: How pure a hue is in relation to gray.
Saturation: The level of purity of a colour.
Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a hue (colour). One may lower the intensity by adding white or black.
Luminance: A measure of the amount of light reflected from a hue. Hues with a high content of white will have a higher luminance.
Shade: A hue produced by the addition of black.
Tint: A hue produced by the addition of white.
Complimentary colours: Are located opposite each other on the colour wheel.
So now that you understand the basics of colours and how they are achieved- you can begin to understand how to create specific looks, which looks will need to be modified to ensure they are complimentary to you, and how to neutralize some features while accentuating others. Whether you are working with cosmetics, hair colours, or even wardrobe choices, an understanding of how colours interact with each other can allow you to influence focal points and draw the eye away from certain “flaws”. Not only that, it can allow us to not exacerbate certain features- like me and my pasty white skin!
 | Brighten Skin Tones! So I had a hard time establishing what skin tone I had. As far as I was concerned, I was white- just really, really white. So how could I pull a colour out of that?! Then I learned this really simple method through out my reading: If you look at your wrist and your veins appear greenish- you have a warm undertone. If you see blue- you have a cool undertone. Simple! I kind of have a bit of both, but they are predominantly blue- so I am definitely cool! Some people’s undertone can change throughout the year so make sure you are cognisant of this. It I much more common, however, for the shade to change not the hue, which makes it easier to adjust year round to your changing skin. Adding some liquid concealer to your slightly too dark foundation or adding darker concealer to your too light foundation is a great way to avoid needing multiple bottles junking up your space. As a rule of thumb warm colours work well on warm skin tones and vica-versa. This is a rule of thumb though- so if you are looking for something more striking or “high fashion”, going against the grain can work in your favor. Just make sure you are applying this principal to something other than your foundation; or you may end up one of the many girls out there sporting the “make-up mask” trend! |
Add Depth
Depth is added through “contouring,” a popular technique that has been used for decades amongst professionals. But recently, it has started to be understood and practiced mainstream; There are hundreds of contouring diagrams on Pinterest right now that will show you how to, “Contour like Kim Kardashian,” but buyer beware as most of the stuff posted is showing you generalized techniques that are appropriate for a certain type of face. This is why Contouring and Highlighting is an important principal to understand. It essentially allows us to change the bone structure of our faces by placing artificial shadows and highlights. A true optical illusion! There is far too much to go through in this post to cover everything so I promise I cover this in more depth at another time. For
now, I will explain the basics: Dark- Recedes, Light- lifts. That is it! Sounds so simple, but it can be used in so many different ways!!!
First, let’s choose the colours to highlight and shadow. It is really up to you whether you are
going to use a liquid foundation, contouring powder, or just plain old eye shadow. Just make sure you are still following your “warm-cool” guidelines…. and that you have mastered the technique of blending! (Again another topic for another time) It doesn’t really matter what shades you choose- that is more of a personal choice. Just remember the bigger the contrast between the two, the more dramatic the look, so if you are going for subtle, try only a few shades darker and lighter than your natural skin colour.
So now you have your colours… what to do with them…. Some simple contouring/highlighting techniques that many of us use without even knowing are when we apply concealer under our eyes. The skin under our eyes naturally dips due to our ocular bones so while we are minimizing our dark circles, we are also minimizing the recession of the skin by pulling it forward with a lighter colour. Many of us also use a lighter concealer on a zit….. and then wonder why it is more obvious than it once was. Yes, it too, has been given the optical “bump.” Are you starting to get it?!
So here are some things to try:
If you have a wide nose: place shadows on either side to make it appear narrow, and highlight up the center.
If you have a weak chin: highlight the middle of it and then shadow along the jaw line.
No cheek bones? Contour the underside of the cheekbone, apply blush to the apples of the cheeks and highlight the top.
Large forehead? Shadow the outer parts of your forehead all the way down to the temples.
Thin lips: increase the appearance of a pout by lining the outer corners in a darker liner and then highlighting the center of the lips and cupids bow. (like ombre lips but can be more subtle)
Depth is added through “contouring,” a popular technique that has been used for decades amongst professionals. But recently, it has started to be understood and practiced mainstream; There are hundreds of contouring diagrams on Pinterest right now that will show you how to, “Contour like Kim Kardashian,” but buyer beware as most of the stuff posted is showing you generalized techniques that are appropriate for a certain type of face. This is why Contouring and Highlighting is an important principal to understand. It essentially allows us to change the bone structure of our faces by placing artificial shadows and highlights. A true optical illusion! There is far too much to go through in this post to cover everything so I promise I cover this in more depth at another time. For
now, I will explain the basics: Dark- Recedes, Light- lifts. That is it! Sounds so simple, but it can be used in so many different ways!!!
First, let’s choose the colours to highlight and shadow. It is really up to you whether you are
going to use a liquid foundation, contouring powder, or just plain old eye shadow. Just make sure you are still following your “warm-cool” guidelines…. and that you have mastered the technique of blending! (Again another topic for another time) It doesn’t really matter what shades you choose- that is more of a personal choice. Just remember the bigger the contrast between the two, the more dramatic the look, so if you are going for subtle, try only a few shades darker and lighter than your natural skin colour.
So now you have your colours… what to do with them…. Some simple contouring/highlighting techniques that many of us use without even knowing are when we apply concealer under our eyes. The skin under our eyes naturally dips due to our ocular bones so while we are minimizing our dark circles, we are also minimizing the recession of the skin by pulling it forward with a lighter colour. Many of us also use a lighter concealer on a zit….. and then wonder why it is more obvious than it once was. Yes, it too, has been given the optical “bump.” Are you starting to get it?!
So here are some things to try:
If you have a wide nose: place shadows on either side to make it appear narrow, and highlight up the center.
If you have a weak chin: highlight the middle of it and then shadow along the jaw line.
No cheek bones? Contour the underside of the cheekbone, apply blush to the apples of the cheeks and highlight the top.
Large forehead? Shadow the outer parts of your forehead all the way down to the temples.
Thin lips: increase the appearance of a pout by lining the outer corners in a darker liner and then highlighting the center of the lips and cupids bow. (like ombre lips but can be more subtle)
  | Neutralize! The colour wheel is also an important tool when you are wanting to camouflage a blemish. The principal is that you use “complimentary colours” to neutralize. For example, if you are covering a pink/red zit, a green concealer will help hide it. Or If you have dark, purple-blue circles under your eyes, a yellow concealer would be the best choice. These colours are opposite to each other on the colour wheel. Make em POP! If you are looking to really accentuate a particular colour, you would identify it on the wheel and then go to the opposite side of wheel to choose it’s complimentary colour there: For example, If you have green eyes you could work with violets and purples to really bring out the green. Blue eyes work well with corals and peaches. Browns are pretty flexible- they can go with almost any colour. Pay attention to the whites of your eyes too ladies! if you have red, tired eyes, stay away from the colours that can really bring those out- like pinks, and reds! |
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