Fabulously Cheeky

Have you ever heard statements that says that any woman can wear a bright red lipstick? Don’t believe it, it is pure nonsense! If a person in the wrong category wears a bright red lipstick, you will see the mouth and nothing else! If you want anyone to see the rest of your face, too, the color of your lipstick has to also match your natural coloring, it is as simple as that.

If you are in the pastel category, the only way you can carry off bright red lipstick, is if you really darken your eyebrows, wear black and put a lot of black around the eyes. (Think Madonna) This is a very dramatic look! If you want a lipstick color that works with your natural coloring, a soft pinkish pastel color will look much nicer.

What if you are in the muted category? Your best lip color is a mid-color in a muted or neutral red/browny/pink shade. If you want to wear bright red or coral, you’ll also have to darken your eyebrows quite a bit to be able to pull it off. If your numbers add up to 10 or 11, you can darken your hair color, and/or your eyebrow color, and you’ll find yourself in the bright category. So before you think about dying your hair, decide what kinds of colors you like to wear. If you love pastels, lighten your hair, and if you love bright colors, darken your hair!

Basically, any numbers 12 and higher can wear bright red lipstick if they wish, even though the numbers 19-21 look better in a dark, more muted shade of red. However, whatever color lipstick you choose, make sure you pick clothes from the same color category! For example, bright lipstick – bright clothing, muted lipstick – muted clothing. The lipstick doesn’t have to match the clothing, it just has to be from the same color category.

So, do the number test, (CLICK HERE if you want to learn more about my new system for determining what colors to wear.) Then, find your category and explore the colors within that category. Think both clothing and makeup.
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Tags: What are my best colors to wear

Every wardrobe needs neutral colors. Why? Because neutral colors match almost everything. The reason why women look into their bursting closets and say “I don’t have anything to wear!” is because each piece of clothing doesn’t fit with anything else. Unless you have things you can combine, you’ll never have anything to wear, no matter how much is in your closet.

The main neutral colors are black, white, gray and beige. Everyone can wear white, no matter what category they are in. If you are in one of the muted categories, you might look better in cream, off white or very light khaki instead, but that’s ok. You get the message – you need a light color that will tie your accent pieces together.

To determine whether the light or white color should be on your top or bottom, you need to remember what your figure is like. If you have a pear shape, you need your light colors on top. If your body is apple shaped, your light colors should be on the bottom. If your body is like a rectangle, you are better off wearing the same color on top and bottom. And the hourglass type can wear light colors any way they like.

Black is another great neutral, in fact it is my very favorite color. I read somewhere that black is the color of rebelliousness, and if that is true, it is no wonder that I love it so much. I must be insane, because I even wear it in the heat of summer! Black can be worn by almost anyone, no matter what their coloring is. My son is the lightest blonde you can imagine, with the palest skin, almost albino, and he looks fantastic in black, even though he belongs to the pastel category. The other day, I saw an older lady in the super market that I couldn’t take my eyes off. She had silver white hair, her eyebrows were nicely darkened, she wore a beautiful muted tone of lipstick and a black dress. She was so stunning that I couldn’t get over it! What style!!!

So, unless you feel comfortable only in pastel candy colors, make sure you have something black in your closet. If you don’t like black too close to the face, buy a pair of black pants, or a simple black skirt. You won’t be sorry, because every top you have in your closet will match it, and you’ll never have to say that you don’t have anything to wear again.

Beige is another great neutral. The only people who can get away with wearing nude beige close to their face is the pastel group, and the two darkest groups from 19-24. (CLICK HERE to learn more about my color system for determining what colors to wear). The rest of us have to be careful with this color close to the face. I belong to the first muted group, from 9-11, so I look best in a tan midcolor that is a little bit darker than my skin. If it is too similar to my skin color, it washes me out. Camel is also a good color for me. The people in the bright group, from 12-18, should look for brighter color choices – beige won’t do much to enhance their coloring. They would be better off with black as their main neutral, since black enhances any bright colors.

Gray is another neutral that we have to be careful with. Again, the pastel group looks great in gray. In the muted group, gray looks great on people with gray hair, or cool coloring, but washes out anyone with warm coloring. But, if you like gray anyway, you can always wear it as a skirt or pants, as long as you use it away from the face.

If your closet needs a makeover, the first thing you need to add is a good selection of neutrals, think black, white, beige, khaki, tan, and gray. Buy a few tops, pants and skirts in your choice of neutral colors, and then you can start putting outfits together. You’ll be surprised to see how many outfits you can actually create, once you add some basic neutral colored clothes to your wardrobe.
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Tags: What are my best colors to wear

Your best colors are colors that have the same intensity as your natural coloring. I have developed a simple numeric system that will tell you what your intensity level is like. All you have to do is to choose a number between 1 and 8 for your hair, eyebrows and skin color. 1 is the lightest blonde, and 8 is very dark or black. After adding up the numbers, you’ll get a number from 3 to 24.

Light Pastels:
In the first picture, I gave 2 for hair, 3 for eyebrows and 2 for skin, a total of 7. If your color value is between 3 and 8, you look best in pastel colors. Lipstick color should also be a pastel tone. If you want to wear darker colors, muted colors are your best choice, even though they will tend to make you look a bit dull. Stay away from bright colors, they will overpower your coloring.

Muted colors
In the second picture I gave 3 for the hair, 5 for the eyebrows and 1 for the skin color, a total of 9. If your color value is between 9 and 11, you look best in muted colors, the murkier the better. The girl in the picture looks lovely with her soft, muted makeup and bluish gray dress. She can also wear some pastel colors, preferably neutral colors like cream and khaki. Bright colors are not a good option. If you are in the muted range and want to wear bright colors, you have to darken the eyebrows more and wear a brighter lipstick to create more contrast in your coloring. However, muted colors complement your coloring better. Lipstick should also be soft and muted, but not too light.

Bright Colors
In the third picture I gave 8 for the hair, 8 for the eyebrows and 2 for the skin. If your color value is between 12 and 18, you look best in bright colors. This is why Chinese and Japanese clothes are so colorful. With their black hair and pale skin, they have enough contrast to be able to carry off very bright colors, as well as bright red lipstick. Muted colors should only be worn when the hair and eyebrows turn gray. Bright colors also fit a lot of people of Spanish heritage. Basically, anyone with dark hair and light skin can use bright colors, and also people with medium hair who are very tan. You can also wear pastels, as long as they are bright pastels, and not muted. Muted colors are more dull and conservative.

Muted Colors
In the fourth picture, I gave 7 for the hair, 7 for the eyebrows and 6 for the skin, a total of 20. If your color value is between 19 and 21, you look better in rich muted colors and dark, muted lipsticks. You don’t have the same contrast as the people in the bright category, so softer colors look better.

Bright Colors
In the fifth picture, I gave 8 for the hair, 8 for the eyebrows and 8 for the skin, a total of 24. If your color value is between 22 and 24, you look better in bright, rich colors. Your coloring is so strong that bright colors really complement your features. Muted colors are fine, too, even though they are a bit more dull. You can also use pastels for a very dramatic effect, especially white, cream and light tan.

Don’t worry about whether your coloring is warm or cool, as long as the intensity of the color is right.
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I was in my late twenties when one of my clients had just been certified as a color consultant with Color Me Beautiful. These are the people who try to fit everyone into seasons. If I remember right, Summer is cool pastels and muted darks, Winter is bright cool colors and also icy pastels, Spring is warm bright colors, and Autumn is warm muted colors.

She worked on me for hours, holding up big pieces of fabric and trying to decide what category I fit into. The truth is, I didn’t really fit into any of those categories. She thought I was a Spring, even though lime green looks awful on me and teal blue kills my blue eyes. Olive green from the Autumn category looks great on me, as well as burgundy from the Summer category, and my very favorite color, black, from the Winter category!!! Poor lady, I think I was a difficult case!

Since then, I was trying to stick with warm colors, even though I noticed that I look awesome in dusty grey blue, which is a cool color. My husband also kept telling me that I look aweful in bright red, which is a warm color. So none of this made any sense to me. I had to figure out why!

After mulling over this for ages, I realized that it has to do with intensity. You have to match the intensity of your natural coloring with the intensity of the clothing colors. It is as simple as that.

What this means is that if you have soft coloring, you need to dress in soft colors. If your coloring is strong, you need strong colors. If it is light, you look better in pastels, and if you are very dark, you look best in strong, dark or very bright colors.

Forget about warm or cool colors. Even though I have warm coloring, I also have blue eyes, so I can actually wear both, provided the intensity of the color is just right. So, I developed a numerological system for figuring out what category you belong in.
More about my new super simple system tomorrow.
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