Makeup for Muted coloring

by Ann
(USA)

QUESTION

Hi Pamela

I have a question about makeup. Being that I'm in the Muted color family which is both Summer and Fall I'm a bit confused on what colors I should use in my makeup choices. Could you give me some idea what colors I should look for please?


ANSWER

Hello Ann

Well we say that loosely but both Summer and Autumn have elements that are not present in the Muted color family.

SUMMER is Light, Cool and MUTED
AUTUMN is Deep, Warm and MUTED

Your colors are just the Soft/Muted leaving out the other elements. Although theoretically you have elements of both Warm and Cool your colors take a middle ground and are richly blended.

Warm shades are too Warm/yellow on you and Cool shades are too Cool/harsh on your natural coloring.

Makeup follows suit. It's important to match foundation carefully to your natural skin tone, try product on the jaw line, even get a tester to take home and try first if you can.

You can copy the dusky shades from your color palette for your eye makeup; soft browns for shaping, dusky greens or purple for color. Blusher should be as natural as possible.

There's not really any need to have different lipsticks for the warm or cool shades because really there is little difference or emphasis on undertone. I would suggest choosing a brownish tone, Bobbi Brown do an amazing range, which will give you sufficient strength but not an overly amount of color. If you feel that you'd like to add more contrast or color, then try a little lip gloss over the top which won't be too strident and affect the base color.

Try adding a plum shade with the mauves, pinks and blues and perhaps a slick of coppery sheen with the autumnal colors. Alternatively, If you like to use a lip pencil it can influence your lipstick quite subtly and add more contrast. Try the difference between a plum pencil (cool) or a gingery brown pencil (warm).

Trust your eye to see which works with different colors and also which you feel comfortable with for your complexion.

kind regards
Pamela