I’m sure most of you are familiar with the color wheel and the law of color, but I think memorizing the affects of color and how different colors react with each other is extremely important in the application of make-up and hair color.
The law of color basically states that there are only three primary colors in the universe – red, blue, and yellow. These colors can’t be created by mixing together other colors, because they’re pure. When these primary colors are mixed together in equal proportion, we get the three secondary colors, which are orange, green, and violet. Just like before, if these colors are mixed with their neighboring secondary color, you get the six tertiary colors, which are yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, red-violet, and red-orange.
Here’s a breakdown –
Red, Blue, and Yellow – Primary colors (nothing can be mixed to create these.)
Orange – Equal parts of red and yellow.
Green – Equal parts of blue and yellow.
Violet – Equal parts of red and blue.
Yellow-Orange – Equal parts of yellow and orange.
Yellow-Green – Equal parts of yellow and green.
Blue-Green – Equal parts of blue and green.
Blue-Violet – Equal parts of blue and violet.
Red-Violet – Equal parts of red and violet.
Red-Orange – Equal parts of red and orange.
Another really important thing about the colors and the color wheel is that it’s broken into two sides, which reflect warm colors and cool colors. Warm colors are generally colors with an orange or red base to them, while cool colors have more of a green or blue base to them.
Why is it pertinent for you to know this?
It’s important because colors will complement your skin tone differently depending on whether you have a cool or warm skin tone. If you have a warm skin tone, reds, oranges, and golds look better on you; if you have a cool skin tone, greens, blues, and silvers look better on you.
The importance of matching and wearing colors that complement your skin tone goes beyond makeup application to your hair color, because if you’re warm toned and have a hair color that is more cool toned, it will make your skin look sickly and washed out, and vice versa.
There are a few things you can do to see if you’re warm or cool skin toned if you don’t know, such as looking at the veins on the inside of your arm; if they’re green, you’re more warm toned; if they’re blue, you’re more cool toned. You can also put something, such as a gold piece of clothing, next to your face and then put something silver next to it a minute later. Whatever color makes your skin color glow is the one that matches your skin tone better and reflects which skin tone you have. The other will make you look washed out or tired. If both colors work well with your skin, you’re most likely a neutral skin type.
Matching colors with your skin tone is especially important when choosing lipsticks! A lot of women wear the wrong color of red and end up hating red lipsticks as a result. If you’re more warm toned, try sticking with colors like brick red or rose red. If you’re more cool toned, wear brighter reds or reds with pink in them. A beautiful red that looks good on both skin tones are red-violets, which can be either warm or cool depending on what color is more prominent (red or violet). This kind of color is more like a mahogany red.
Knowing color theory can also help with the application of eye shadow and concealer. If you don’t have a green eye shadow but have a blue and yellow, you can mix the two colors to get the color green you want.
As color theory applies to concealer, you want to neutralize whatever color is bothering you. If you have more purple or blue bags under your eyes, you would want to use a concealer that has more of an orange or yellow base. If you’re trying to cover any redness on your face, you would neutralize it with green.
You neutralize a color by combining it or covering it with its complementary color.
Complementary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel. They are --
Red -- Green
Blue – Orange.
Purple – Yellow.
Green – Red.
Orange – Blue.
Yellow – Purple.
Using complementary colors is essential in using eye shadows, because you want to use colors that will make your eyes pop. The aforementioned colors above when either trying to neutralize something (like under eye circles or redness) or bring out the color of your eyes (like if you have blue eyes, orange colors help them stand out).
When trying to conceal something properly, you have to neutralize the color. If your under eye circles are purple or blue, use a concealer that has more of an orange or yellow tone to it. If you’re trying to conceal redness or blemishes, use a concealer that has a more green tone to it.
I know it may seem a little frivolous to go through a color lesson now since we were taught about the theory of color in elementary school, but I can’t tell you how many times knowing what colors neutralize and complement others and how they affect the overall makeup look has helped me in tight situations.
I hope this helps!
Ciao, bella!
Autavia Dior
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