If you’ve clicked on this; you are obviously interested in adding more colour to your life! This is especially great as its finally starting to warm up in the Northern Hemisphere where I live; and warm weather always makes everyone feel good! It’s important to note that you can add as much or as little colour as you feel comfortable with and what speaks to you might be different than what speaks to me for example.
Adding more colour to your life is such a fun way to express yourself! If you’re only starting on your creative journey, then let me be your guide to all things colourful!! I would say my favourite colour right now is definitely pink but for such a long time I was so ashamed to like the colour pink because then it meant I was a “girly girl” which at that time felt very negative to me; almost like I was being put into a category that I didn’t know how to get out of.
At some point though, I had to decide if I was going to let the socially constructed idea of a “girly girl” control what I liked and how I chose to express myself; the answer is always no!! Everyone is on their own journey, and I hope to help you all to feel comfortable and confident in yourselves; and thankfully makeup is a fantastic way to do that!
And if I look up the meaning of a “girly girl” now, this is what I found “A girly girl is someone who wholeheartedly embraces her femininity, without sacrificing her personality or strength. She cares about her behavior, style, and appearance, but is never self-centered or mean and is always herself.” And that sounds good to me! While this was my own personal journey; I want everyone to know that no matter who or what you are; we are all on the same journey of self-discovery and I find that to be the most beautiful reason to be on this earth!
So lets get right into the first tip!
- Decide on your colours!
If you’re a colour avoider when it comes to makeup or maybe you are only comfortable with a certain colour that always works for you; then I may be able to help you branch out a little bit! If you’re little unsure about where to start incorporating more colour, then I would recommend you start by getting an image of the colour wheel up and make a list of any colours jump out at you.
Don’t get intimidated by trying to interpret the colour wheel yet; just view it in terms of what pops out at you. Once you’ve decided on a few colours you like the look of; you can then make a note of their complimentary colours (usually on the opposite side of the wheel from the colour you’ve chosen) and note them down on your list.
While this doesn’t seem important right now; when you are adding more colour to your makeup looks; the complimentary colour will help to add a depth to your look and will make your eyes more striking! I think its also important to avoid thinking about any preconceived notions about what colours look best on what eye colour etc because in my opinion that just halters your creativity; I’ve personally found that all colours are flattering to all eye colours if you know how to use them!
- Start to experiment!
The next best thing you can do is experiment with shapes until you find something that sticks with you. For example; I used to do my makeup in the very stereotypical way of darker colours in the outer corner and lighter colours in the inner corner and I would just blend it into my eye socket shape but I found that it made my eyes look really heavyset and made my hooded eyes look even more hooded so I started adopting a more angular shape where I brought the makeup up and to a point (a triangle basically). This worked so much better for my eye shape, and it also meant that the eye-shadow I put on was much more visible, which made my eyes pop more!
All I’m saying is if you experiment with some colours and you feel like something is not quite right then try to shape it in a different way. And never forget, this is meant to be fun! Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to make things “perfect”, in fact perfect doesn’t even exist and I still can never get my eye makeup to be perfectly symmetrical, but that’s PERFECTLY okay!
- Don’t be afraid of looking different!
The next super important tip is to remember that you should never be afraid to express yourself! I know what its like to put on a vibrant and daring makeup look and be aware of anyone who stares at you for longer than a few seconds, but the biggest tip for me is to just let them! It may seem like they’re staring because of all the negative theories and insecurities you thought up in your head, but I would prefer to view it in a neutral way rather than a negative or even a positive way. I would just prefer to view it as the fact that I have put something eye-catching on my face and so I shouldn’t be surprised that other people view it as eye-catching as well!
And as of yet I have not had anyone come up to me to tell me they don’t like my makeup; in fact its quite the opposite! You’d be astounded by how much confidence you can get from finally giving up all the care you have for other people’s opinions! I feel like a stuck record, but I really do believe that once you do things that please yourself; you begin to open up a treasure trove of creativity! And as Plato said, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”.
- Make makeup your own!
The fourth tip for adding more colour into your makeup style is to make it your own! Now, I understand you can’t really make something your own if you have no idea what you like; so here are a few of my favourite ways to add colour.
(I will start off simple and understated and get more colourful from there)
- First up is a simple way to add colour is simply by adding a little bit to the corner of your eye by using your finger
- This next one is also quite a simple way to add colour; simply use a coloured eyeliner or a thin brush with your eye-shadow and use it in place of a liner (either on the top or bottom!)
- The next simple look would be to add a little colour to the centre of your eyelid – this is great for beginners as the pop of colour will go directly above the eye and will make it pop without having the actual makeup be too daring!
- This next look is a little more colourful; simply choose a block colour that you enjoy and apply it to your eye in whatever shape you prefer. I have gone for a triangular shape.
- Following on from the previous look; this look is a little more complicated. All you need to do is add your block colour to your eyelid; but then you also want to add and blend a similar colour on the inside and outside corners of your eyes. I added a darker colour at the end and lighter colour in the inner corner. This will add a lovely depth of colour!
- The next simple way to add colour is to simply find a rounded eyeliner brush (or even a cotton bud would work); poke it into your colourful eye-shadow and apply it to your eyelid (I recommend using twisting motions so the circles come out); this will make the most interesting circular patterns on your eyelid, and you can use them however you like!
- And lastly; This is one of my favourite ways of adding colour. All you need to do is find a thin brush and create a line of colour on the eyelid (green) – I chose to do it just above my eyelid crease; then add a complimentary colour (pink) to the lash line and add the original colour at the very end of the liner. I then also added some more pink to the bottom inner corner and finished it off with some brown at the end of my lower lash line.
- Don’t forget that you can mix colours!
The last tip for how to add more colour to your makeup is to remember that we don’t even know how many colours actually exist in the world; so don’t get caught up in the same routine of the same colours! Here are some amazing techniques you can use to spice up any colours!
The first thing you’ll want to do is remember you can mix colours together and create new ones! This is especially true if you have any sort of colourful graphic liners; however you can still mix colours with eye-shadows! If you are using eye-shadows and are using maybe a blue eye-shadow; what you don’t realise is that if you blend a little bit of red with that blue eye-shadow you will make a gorgeous purple colour! I like to add these colours on my eyes in sections so you can see each colour in their own right as well as see how it looks blended together.
The most important thing when mixing colours is to remember colour theory; that is why I recommend you keep a screenshot of the colour wheel on your phone so it can keep you informed of all of the primary colours you’ll need to use and the secondary colours you can make with them! If you’re mixing graphic liners together you will be able to make more solid new colours which you can then apply as if they were already mixed that way!
The biggest tip for mixing graphic liners is to use a good amount of water – there’s nothing worse than a cakey and flaky liner!
