Your Best Makeup Colors is a new series here on The Style and Beauty Doctor aimed to help at taking some of the guess work out of choosing makeup colors for your skin tone. I’ll use pictures of celebs to help illustrate the series so when a celeb most closely matches your skin tone you can grab some ideas.
Note: The makeup I mention are colors that will go great with a certain skin tone, but aren’t the only ones you should try. They’ll give you a good idea of what colors will look best on you. Also I’ll be mentioning a lot of brands that are “internet popular” meaning that you’ll be able to check Google Images for swatches easily. This way you can still have an idea of colors and still shop within your own fave brands (drugstore, indie, department store).
Cool!
So let’s get started on our first one. If you’re itching to see other complexions, check out: Best Makeup Colors for Every Skin Tone.
Our first one is going to be Kelly Rowland as I get a lot of emails from you lovely ladies asking for makeup suggestions for “Kelly Rowland skin”. So here goes!
While I have never seen Kelly in person, from pics we can assume (and for argument’s sake) she has darker skin with cool undertones. This means she looks great in silver and makeup with bluish or pink undertones. Darker skin like Kelly’s looks great in brighter, more pigmented colors as well as colors close to her skin color (for neutral looks it’s great to have 3 eyeshadows: one close to the skin complexion, one 2-3 shades darker (contour), and one 2-3 shades lighter (highlight). When creating a beautiful makeup look, even if you love neutrals, add in at least one “bright” (usually blush) to really make your look pop.
Eyeshadows (MAC–if MAC isn’t your fave brand still use this as a guide to figure out which similar colors look best in other brands):
P.S. I tried to only picked colors from the permanent line so you don’t get stuck on a color only to realize it’s sold out.
Neutrals: Twinks, Soft Brown, Corduroy, Swiss Chocolate, Mulch, Sketch, Sumptuous Olive, Satin Taupe, Handwritten, Espresso, Bamboo
For fun: Knight Devine, Purple Haze, Star Violet, Humid, Nocturnelle, Contrast, Beauty Marked, Passionate, Chrome Yellow, Bitter, Lucky Green, Swimming, Freshwater, Electric Eel, Print, Carbon, Deep Truth, Contrast, Nehru, Plumage, Atlantic Blue, Vibrant Grape, Stars N’ Rockets, Hepcat, Creme de Violet, Knight Devine
Blush: the more vibrant the better! Don’t be scared of bright blush colors, it looks gorgeous on Kelly Rowland skin.
Illamasqua: Tweak (I mention this blush so often because it’s GORGEOUS), Beg, Excite, Panic, Sin, Thrust
NARS: Angelika, Amour, Desire, Dolce Vita, Exhibit A, Mata Hari, Taos, Torrid
MAC: Frankly Scarlet, Breezy, Fever, Raizin, Loverush, Dollymix, Ambering Rose
MAC Pro: (go to maccosmetics.com for locations or call 1-800-866-6464. You don’t have to be a MAC Pro member to order) Flame Red, Azalea, Full Fuchsia, Rhubarb, Devil, Salsarose
Lips: Again, the brighter the better. For neutral lip colors, look for those with pinkish undertones.
Reds: MAC Ruby Woo Lipstick, Stila Long Wear Lip Color in Fiery, Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupté in #18, MAC Red Lipstick, MAC Dubonnet Lipstick, MAC Russian Red Lipstick
Berries: MAC Darkside Lipstick, MAC Film Noir Lipstick, MAC Desire Lipstick, MAC Rebel Lipstick, MAC Cyber Lipstick, Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Pur Couture in #8 Belle de Rose, MAC Desire Lipglass, MAC Pop Mode Lipglass, Yves Saint Laurent Golden Gloss in #9 Golden Plum
Nudes (go for brownish pinks): Dior Dior Addict Ultra Shine Lipstick in Model Brown, MAC Spite Lipglass, Bobbi Brown Hot Cocoa Lipstick, Bobbi Brown Chocolate Lipstick, NARS Hustler Lipgloss
Pinks: MAC Girl About Town, MAC Viva Glam V Lipstick and Lipglass, MAC Full Fuchsia Lipstick, MAC Pink Nouveau Lipstick, MAC Lickable Lipstick, NARS Funny Face Lipstick, MAC Chatterbox Lipstick, MAC Saint Germain Lipstick, MAC Up the Amp Lipstick
Looking for other skintones in this topic? Bookmark this category: Your Best Makeup Colors.
Feel free to add your favorites in the comments! If you have questions, leave me a comment or contact me.
Images via Getty Images
This is great! Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome!
Thank you for this. This is very helpful!
Glad it helped! You’re welcome :)
New Blog Post: Your Best Makeup Colors: Kelly Rowland http://bit.ly/ezaCp5
Hi! How do you suggest an nw45 wear pink nouveau lipstick? Clearly with a liner but do you suggest any in particular?
Hey Sharon!
You can actually wear Pink Nouveau on its own, but if you want to darken it a bit, try a liner like MAC Magenta Lip Pencil or even MAC Nightmoth Lip Pencil. You can find about a gazillion different combinations to wear it if you’re willing to experiment a bit—but please don’t do MAC Chestnut Liner (a brown) as that look has become cliché.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have additional questions :)
Your Best Makeup Colors: Kelly Rowland : http://tinyurl.com/6l7dg4d @StyleNBeautyDoc
RT @StyleNBeautyDoc: New Blog Post: Your Best Makeup Colors: Kelly Rowland http://bit.ly/ezaCp5
LOVE THIS> New to make up, and its sort of difficult to use the right products/color for this complexion. This was really helpful, i need all the help i can get. Thats why my bestie, sister and i cant wait to be at your meet&greet coming Sat. We are from Ct but will be making the treck to meet like minded fab sistas, and learn a thing or two. Keep it up girl. I see much success for this site ;)
Hey Tara!
Glad this was helpful for you! And I’m so excited and honored that you’re coming from CT to my event on Saturday! Yay! Looking forward to meeting you, your bestie, and your sis! :)
Thank you, Danielle. I love this series!
I love this series but do you have any examples of dark women with warm undertones?
Hey Toya!
Wanna email me with a pic of you so I can make recommendations? Dark with warm undertones can mean so many things. Contact me here: https://www.thestyleandbeautydoctor.com/contact/. If you need to send a pic as an attachment via email as opposed to linking me to pics, just email me saying so and I’ll respond so you can do so. Sorry for all the theatrics but it keeps my spam level low when I don’t announce my email address…lol.
Hello Danielle, I’m not sure if this is the appropriate place to leave a message, lol, but I have a request. You have skintones that are similar to mine on here (Laura London) but the lip colors are a little off, etc. The celebrity that matches my skintone is Gugu Mbatha-Raw (especially at the Emmys, lol). I thank you for this!
Also, I plan to dye my hair a blonde & I saw that you gave someone hair color suggestions & I would love it if you could point me to the blonde colors that would work best with me (:
Author
Hey Sumaya!!!
You can leave messages anywhere you want :) But if you prefer you can also email me at thestyleandbeautydoctor@gmail.com ;)
For someone Gugu’s complexion, I think blonde would be a little harsh–I see a little pink in her undertones. A warm brown with honey blonde highlights would look great though. Something like this:
(click to enlarge)
but no more blonde than this:
(click to enlarge)
Hope this helps! If you have more questions, feel free to comment back or email me :)
would kelly use mac nw45 shade? just wondering
Author
Hey Sandra!
I’d say she just might be NW45. She definitely has cooler undertones :)
What color of lipstick is Kelly Rowland wearing lavender or violet?Help!I want it.
Author
I don’t know what you mean—there’s no picture here of her wearing lavender or violet lipstick. But some pretty violet/lavender lipsticks include MAC Violetta, MAC Up the Amp, and Maybelline has a new line of plum lipsticks. Hope you find what you’re looking for!
Hii I’m believe I’m Kelly’s complexion pls what foundation in Mary kay would you suggest I use and iv been tryin to get the kim undereye highlight but I end up looking funny pls could you do a write up about it for kelly’s complexion and pictures of the shade of concealer you use? Thank you
Author
Hey Susan!
I’d love to help but unfortunately I’m not well versed in Mary Kay shades at all. I did receive some products that I reviewed here: https://www.thestyleandbeautydoctor.com/2013/01/mary-kay-timewise-matte-wear-luminous-wear-and-mineral-powder-foundation/ if that helps. Your best bet is to sit with a Mary Kay consultant and have them help you pick out a shade.
As for the undereye highlight, you’ll want to go no lighter than two shades above your skintone color. My current fave is Cover FX Cream Concealer in N Deep for highlighting the undereye area for a more dramatic look or N X-Deep for a more subtle highlighted look. Then I set it with Ben Nye powder in Coco Tan (see my post here: https://www.thestyleandbeautydoctor.com/2013/05/ben-nye-powders-review-and-swatches/
Hope this helps!
Thank you once again ill check them out .You’r the best!!!