Complementary colours makeup

Good evening everyone!

So, I had an idea today to do makeup based on the colour wheel. I think I have talked about this topic before…a long time ago when my blog was still widely unpopular. Not that it has millions of readers presently, but at least now there are actual people visiting this online space.

Makeup is obviously so tightly based on knowledge of colour, that if you are a true makeup junkie, you are bound to be confronted with the colour wheel sooner or later.

This is how it looks like:

The idea is that there are the primary colours: red, yellow and blue. They cannot be made by mixing other colours together. And then, there are the secondary colours, like green, purple and orange, which can be formed by combining two primary colours. Tertiary colours are there too,..

…let’s not make this a school lesson though ;). The most important thing is that you can use this colour wheel in so many ways when doing your makeup! For instance, colours which are located opposite to each other on the wheel, can either cancel or reinforce each other. They are called complementary colours: red-green, blue-orange, yellow-purple represent such duos.

When placed next to each other complementary colours create a contrast, and reinforce each other. On the other hand, if you place them on top of one another, you get the opposite effect: weakening. And that’s exactly how it works with makeup. A red pimple can be covered by green concealer. Blue or purple under-eye circles can best be hidden by orange- or yellow-based concealer. And so on, and so on…you get the idea 🙂

You can use the colour wheel to also determine what eyeshadow colours would best suit your eye colour. You have perhaps heard this a million times, but blue eyes do very well with orange-hued shades (coppers and the likes..), whereas blue eyeshadows are a NO-NO. But those are just guidelines. What they suggest is, yes if you want to create the best contrast…that’s what the colour wheel advises you. That’s not to say, you are never to use blue e/s because you’ve got blue eyes…just find the hue, or the placement that works 😉

The colour wheel is where I found my inspiration for today’s makeup as well…let’s use colours which contrast each other the strongest!!!

Orange and blue!

What I used:

Face:

• Missha Perfect Cover bb cream
• Bourjois Healthy balance powder
• Tarte blush Tipsy
• TBS shimmer powder

Lips:

• Essence long lasting lipstick Coral Calling

Eyes:

• Art Deco e/s base
• NYX JEP Cottage Cheese
• Sugaprill e/s Flamepoint
• Sugarpill e/s Buttercupcake
• Inglot e/s 108R
• MUG e/s Beaches and Cream
• MUG e/s Shimma Shimma
• Concrete Minerals pro matte e/s Bulletproof
• MUG gel liner Electric
• Essence gel eye pencil (dark blue)
• Max Factor False lash effect (upper lashes)
• Oriflame blue mascara (lower lashes)

Do you also use the colour wheel when doing your makeup, for help..or just inspiration?

Have a nice weekend 🙂