Beauty Consultants and thier Color Schemes..er Scams.

I love that color of lipstick but I could never wear it because I'm in the Autumn color family. BLEGH! How many times have you heard this being said by a poor misinformed soul? Maybe it's you saying it. I can't even count the amount of times that I have heard this one while working in retail cosmetics over the years. It started in the 80's with those so called "Makeup consultants" who draped ugly drapes over your shoulders and tagged you, winter, autumn, summer or something like that. It's comical really, but a sad folklore that has been fed to a pack of housewives somewhere, then spread like a cold sore in a Jr. high lipsmacker balm. Lol.. gross. My name is Amanda and I'm here to bust up that archaic teaching! I believe that you have the ability to wear whatsoever shade of lipstick, blush or eyeshadow that your little heart desires as long as its well coordinated with the rest of your product. In as many years as I have been a makeup artist, I have been able to make a fire engine red lipstick look amazing on any face that sat in my chair, whether you are white, black, brown, red or yellow. Blonde hair, black hair, Carrot top or Silver, I think that all women are beautiful and more confident in a bold red lip. There are soo many shades of red out there, that it's quite literally impossible to not find a shade of red for you. I'm not saying that you can't wear fire engine red if your a particular skin tone but if fire engine feels too bold for you, then find a safe, muted shade to start with. I understand daaahling, Baby steps, baby steps. There is always an exception though. I'll give you and example. I sat down a client who was as fair as can be with beautiful platinum blonde hair. Her skin was fair and see through it seemed. She had reddish, purple undertones that made her fearful of any fun or girly colors. She wanted to wear fuschia but had accepted the fact that because of her skin tone, she was doomed to a life of nudes. She was dying to wear a baby doll pink blush but felt disqualified. I had to explain to her that just because God gave you one shade, didn't mean that she couldn't tweak it just a little to make it work. The first thing we had to do was neutralize her skin tone with not only a matching shade of foundation but a foundation with some warm yellows or corals in it too. "My color of foundation usually doesn't have a yellow base." She claims, to which I respond, "I know." I grabbed one of my fave products off of the shelf, Stay don't stray from the Benefit line. It's not a foundation but an eye primer that is 40% water, making it a wonderful hydrator and had a convienient mix of yellow and pink. So, we added a few drops of it to her foundation and blended it onto her face. Voila'! Redness gone. I then proceeded to slightly fill her brows with an ash blonde brow gel, dust her apples with a daisy pink blush, apply jet black mascara and finally.. I completely filled her lips with a nude pencil then proceeded to apply the richest most vibrant fuschia lipstick that I could find. When lips are on loud showcase, you want to keep everything else toned down and soft. It flattered her wonderfully and she was sprung. She bought everything I put on her of course, lol. More importantly, I simply showed her how to make her skin tone work for her, not against her. It's not rocket science ladies..it just takes some creative tweaking and a willingness to step out and try something bold. Think of yourself as a blank coloring book and your makeup bag as your box of crayons. Today is a new day, what color are you going to paint it?