Makeup Colors for Your Skin Tone, Hair and Jewelry

The colors closest to your face matter most, and that’s where a color palette analysis pays off first. Your makeup, your hair and the jewelry at your ears and throat all sit right beside your eyes and skin, so they either bring your face forward or compete with it.

I’ve seen it again and again in more than 40 years of color work. A woman in the right colors can still fade if her hair is lightened past its natural range, or if her jewelry is the wrong metal. And the reverse: one of my clients, Rakalaya, an Autumn and a former bleached blond, glows when she wears her natural hair color.

In this post I’ll show you how to choose makeup colors for your skin tone, and how to use your color palette for your face, the way I teach it in my book, Dress Your Essence: makeup, hair color and jewelry.

Makeup: Start With Your Skin

Your skin tone is unique, and your makeup should repeat it, not cover it.

Foundation. Your foundation should match your skin tone exactly. It’s also a useful tool for finding your palette: the foundation that disappears on your skin is a record of your skin-tone color.

Blush. Your blush shows a slightly warmer value of your skin tone. Here’s a trick from my book: take your foundation and your blush to a paint store and find swatches that match them both. Then look for lighter and darker values of each. You now have the skin-tone section of your palette, and colors you can wear in shirts and blouses.

Your undertone. Look at your lips and the skin around your eyes and ears, where it’s thinnest. Are your lips purple, bluish or rose? Or golden bronze or peach? That undertone tells you whether your makeup should lean cooler or warmer. Springs tend toward golden or warm pink undertones; Summers and Winters toward cool rose or violet; Autumns toward ruddy red-orange or copper.

Lipstick: Let Your Romantic Red Lead

Your Romantic Red is the color of your natural flush, the red that rises when you gently pinch your cheek. It’s your guide to lipstick.

Look at the red lipsticks you already own. Which look best on you? What are their undertones: violet, blue, coral, rust or brown? That undertone tells you about your Romantic Red.

As a starting point:

• Springs often wear a bright pink, coral, vibrant ruby or cranberry.
• Summers range from cool dusty rose to burgundy.
• Autumns wear warmer reds like brick, cinnamon or rust.
• Winters range from bright cardinal to deep ruby or magenta.

When you find the right red, your skin and eyes light up. The wrong one makes you fade into the background.

Hair Color: Protect Your Contrast

Your hair and skin usually create the most contrast in your coloring. For that reason, your hair color has such a strong effect on how you’re seen.

Lightening. Many women habitually lighten their hair because they’ve been told light hair is more attractive. But when you lighten your hair beyond your natural range, past your color as a young child or the shade you’d see after a summer in the sun, you reduce the contrast between your hair and skin, and you fade out. In fact, this happens often with Winters, who love the drama of platinum blond.

Darkening. Darkening your hair can add contrast that doesn’t match your energy. This is particularly true for Springs and Summers. A Spring who colors her naturally dark blond hair black will lose some of the vibrancy of her essence.

How to Find Your Natural Hair Shade

Your natural shade. If you’re not sure what your natural color is, look at your eyebrows. Your natural hair color is likely within one to two shades of them. You can also let your roots grow for two or three months and study the color.

There’s nothing wrong with your natural shade. Mother Nature makes no mistakes. If you want to see yourself as yourself, consider bringing your hair closer to its natural color.

My client Sue, a Summer, had dyed her naturally dark brown hair a golden blond, and it erased her face and her dusky pink skin. When she returned to her natural brown and wore her own colors, her husband’s relatives, who had met her at family reunions for nearly twenty years, greeted her as if for the first time.

Gray hair. Gray hair is part of your palette too. It can range from platinum and white to pewter, brushed silver or antique silver. Use its tone in your accessories, and the more muted your hair, the more muted the metals you choose. My own formal neutral used to be black; now it’s the silver of my hair.

Jewelry: Find Your Metals

Your metals come from two places: the lights of your eyes and the highlights of your hair. Far beyond basic gold and silver, they might include brushed gold, rose gold, Florentine gold, antique silver, pewter, platinum, bronze, copper, rose copper, brass or antique brass.

Match the sheen to your skin. The level of shine you can wear reflects the finish and texture of your skin and hair. Smooth-textured skin looks best with smooth, shiny metals. More textured skin looks best with engraved, hammered or carved finishes.

By season:

• Spring: sparkle and soft sheen, from bright gold to deep bronze; softer golds for warm skin
• Summer: matte finishes and soft sheen, like rose bronze, rose copper, pewter, antique silver and rose gold
• Autumn: mixed metals with depth, from bronze to copper to brass and antique gold
• Winter: silver matched to the eyes or hair, white gold and platinum for extreme contrast, and copper or brass for Winters with mustard tones in their eyes

Match the scale to your features. Jewelry should match the size of your features. Compact features call for smaller pieces; larger features can carry larger ones. And repeat your own shapes: almond eyes suit longer, tapered beads; round eyes suit hoops and circles.

Don’t be discouraged if your usual stores only carry shiny gold and silver. Etsy and local artisans offer far more range.

What to Do Next

• Take your foundation and blush to a paint store and find your skin-tone swatches.
• Line up your red lipsticks and notice which undertone lights you up.
• Look at your eyebrows to estimate your natural hair color.
• Hold gold, silver and bronze jewelry up to your face in natural light and notice which brings out your eyes.

For a first step today, pinch your cheek and compare the flush to your favorite lipstick.

Your Face Deserves Your Colors Most

Your clothes frame you, but your makeup, hair and jewelry sit right beside your eyes and skin. When they come from your own palette, your face comes forward and your whole look feels like one coherent picture.

The first step to your complete palette is a short conversation about your goals. Book a Call with Jennifer’s Team.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find my best lipstick color? Start with your Romantic Red, the color of your natural flush. Notice the undertones of the reds that already suit you, violet, blue, coral, rust or brown, and choose lipsticks in that family.

Should I dye my hair lighter or darker? Your natural shade usually keeps you most vibrant. Lightening beyond your natural range reduces contrast and can make you fade; darkening can add contrast that doesn’t match your energy, especially for Springs and Summers.

How do I know if gold or silver suits me? Look at the lights of your eyes and the highlights of your hair in natural light. Gold, bronze, copper or brass tones point to warmer metals; silver, platinum or gray point to cooler ones. Many people wear a mix.

What metals go with gray hair? Use the tone of your gray, platinum, pewter, brushed or antique silver, as a guide. The more muted your hair, the more muted your metals.