makeup means color

Today we talk about color, and how it influences makeup. It’s probably my most educational article in this make-up area. Read to the end and find out how to harmonize the colors correctly, to get a pleasing make-up to the eyes.

The study of light is performed on sunlight, so-called white light or daylight. The color itself is just a sensation, an impression on the retina that depends on the light a body receives and the radiation it emits.

It is known that white, solar light is only apparently homogeneous. If a sunlight passes through a glass prism, the ray disperses and thus obtains the solar spectrum, which reproduces the 7 colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and purple.

The pigments of a body act on light like filters that absorb certain radiation, sending the others to our eyes. We perceive the latter as the color of the body. For example: a body with pigments that absorbs all radiation except green, looks green, one that transmits all radiation looks white, another that absorbs them all looks black.

Colorimetry is very important in makeup. The makeups we use are mixtures of colored materials, pigments, and that is why it is necessary to achieve harmonious color combinations, to know as much as possible about them.

There are three basic or primary colors: red, yellow, and blue, colors that cannot be obtained by mixing two other colors, and three secondary colors: purple, orange, and green.

Secondary colors result from the mixture of two primary colors:

• blue + red = purple;
• red + yellow = orange;
• yellow + blue = green.

All these primary and secondary colors pass from one to another through shades, a mixture of close colors. Thus, each color is mainly divided into three. The new colors obtained are called intermediate.

• red – purple: contains blue
• red – pure: contains neither blue nor yellow
• red – orange: contains yellow
• orange – red: excess red
• orange: equality between red and yellow
• orange – yellow: excess yellow
• yellow – orange: contains red
• green – yellow: excess yellow
• green: equality between yellow and blue
• green – blue: excess blue
• blue – green: contains yellow
• blue – pure: contains neither yellow nor red
• blue – purple: contains red
• purple – blue: excess blue
• purple: equality between blue and red
• purple – purple: excess red

So there are two kinds of shades: warm and cold.

Warm shades are those between purple and yellow-green, passing through red and orange.

The cool shades are between purple-purple and green-blue.

Warm shades (light) and cool shades (shadow) are opposite and allow the play of shadow and light, which changes the values (eye makeup)

Complementary colors

It is said about one color that it is complementary to another, if together with it the balance of the three primary colors is established: red, yellow and blue.

For example: red and green are complementary colors, as they restore the balance of the three primary colors:

red-green = red- (blue + yellow)      /    blue + yellow = green

 

The color wheel

 

Face-to-face colors are complementary.

Harmony of colors

We can talk about the harmony of colors when the chromatic ensemble is pleasing to the eye, when no discrepancies are created by joining the colors.

Elements of harmony:

• Color:
  • opposite colors form contrasts;
  • the color can be influenced by the adjacent colors;
  • similar colors form the gradients.
• Tone:
  • open / cheerful;
  • medium / calm;
  • dark / sad
• Line, horizontal direction:
  • ascending: cheerful
  • horizontal: classic, calm
  • descendant: sad.

Consonant harmonies are harmonies composed of close shades, which form gradients, starting from a common, basic color. To achieve a consonant harmony, the color of hair and makeup must be in harmony with the tone of the iris.

The dissonant harmonies are composed of complementary colors, without a common shade, colors that achieve violent contrasts, which must be avoided in makeup.

Juxtaposing colors

Certain colors placed next to each other strengthen or destroy each other:

• a warm color and a cold color value each other,
• 2 cool colors warm up,
• 2 warm colors cool down,
• a color set on a white background strengthens its tone, but its brightness is attenuated,
• color on a black background fades as a tone, but gets a brighter glow.

So colors have their own harmony. We can give life to a color or we can destroy its brightness by placing it next to another color. A mixture of unsorted tones is unpleasant to the eye. There are four main harmonies that can be juggled indefinitely, intensifying them or making them paler, but the basics remain the same.

Blue harmony

Foundation: light pink;
Blush: pink;
Powder: light pink;
Eyeshadow: blue-gray;
Mascara: blue;
Eyeliner: blue-gray;
Lipstick: pink.

Summer harmony “gold”

Foundation: warm, golden;
Blush: orange;
Powder: warm, golden;
Eyeliner: navy blue;
Eyeshadow: blue;
Mascara: black-blue
Pencil: brown;
Lipstick: orange.

“Pink” summer harmony

Foundation: warm, golden;
Blush: pink;
Powder: warm, golden;
Eyeliner: black-blue;
eyeshadow: blue;
Mascara: blue;
Pencil: gray;
Lipstick: pink.

Golden harmony

Foundation: warm, golden;
blush: orange;
Powder: warm, golden;
Eyeliner: black-brown-green;
Eyeshadow: green;
Mascara: green-brown;
Pencil: brown-black;
Lipstick: orange.

The golden and blue harmony are the classical harmonies, the others are modern.

For a perfect color harmony, the following must be taken into account:

• eye color,
• hair color,
• skin color,
• make-up stains (blush, eyeshadow, lipstick),
• the color of the clothing.

Everything will harmonize according to the color of the iris, which remains unchanged.
The hair can be dyed, the skin color intensified with foundation or cheek foundation. The color spots of the make-up (cheeks, eyelids, lips) are very important, because they give the final impression.

In the next article I will talk about the game of light and shadow, optical illusions.