Make-Up for Women of Color

Knowing your skin tone will help you in picking out the right foundation to match your skin. Most women should use Yellow toned foundation but with black women it may be different. There are three main tones that most colored women have naturally in their skin. For instance, Alicia Keys is lighter skinned but the tone to her face is Yellow. The others undertones to dark skin would be Red or Blue.

When buying a foundation do your best to find a shade that matches both your color and tone. The point of makeup is to get your natural beauty to stand out. Foundation that is too dark, too light or caked on detracts from that. One trick to finding your perfect shade is by testing the color on the wad of your cheek. Never test on your hand or arm since they never match your face perfectly. The right color for you will disappear on your face. Also try to test the color in natural lighting since it reflects the tone to the foundation better.

M.A.C has a good line for Black Women and another good brand is Black Radiance made especially for dark skin.

This rule applies to everyone, including men. A good skin care regiment will add years to your skin and rule number one to applying makeup is starting with a freshly cleansed face. Whether you have dry skin or oily, don't skim out on the moisturizer and eye cream. The skin on your face deals with the brunt of your makeup decisions and is cleaned more often than the rest of the body. Face wash can have the tendency to pull moisture from your face and it needs to be replaced. Which ever you decide to use just be sure it doesn't clog your pores.

If you have oily skin that pushes through your makeup there are a couple things you should try. Buy oil controlling gel or lotion and apply this before you apply your makeup but after you wash your face. There are facial cleansers that help with controlling oil buildup as well. Neutrogena as a good line for this.

Some brands use harsh soaps that do more harm than good to your skin. Cetaphil is a good gental cleanser to use on sensitive skin especially.

Eyeshadow and eyeliner is the weapon of the ages! Darker skin has the huge advantage of wearing bright colors on the lid without out them detracting attention from the eye. With that being said though, you still want to be aware of what your wearing. Eyeshadow generally speaking should bring attention to your eyes. Of course you want people to compliment your makeup but they usually only do that when it works with your skin and personality. You don't want to look like a clown or cartoon but don't be afraid to experiment! Look at pictures of models or celebrities that share or have similar skin colors and see what they are wearing.

Golds are amazing colors on dark skin and a good smokey eye works on everyone. Shimmery browns, purples and silvers can work wonders. Really you just need to experiment which color you feel suits you.

Don't forget about your eye color. If you have light eyes like Leona Lewis or Tyra Banks than you have a serious home court advantage! Light eyes against darker skin already stand out as a main feature on your face. The right color shadows can really make them pop and make people stare in awe.

Line your eyes with eyeliner and go from a three shade combo. A lighter shimmery brown for all over the lid, a darker brown for the crease and a light almost gold as a highlighter for your brow and inner corner of the eye.

Blush and Bronzer, when done right, give the skin a healthy glow making you look lively and youthful. Blush should be applied on the apple of the cheek and back to the hair line. You don't want stripes on your face so when you dab your brush in the color be sure to tap off the excess. If it's not enough color than repeat the step. It's easier to build the color a layer at a time than putting too much on and trying to fix it.

Bronzer can do two things: It can be used like a blush to give a natural shimmer or it can be used to contour your cheeks. What conturing does is it makes your cheek bones more promenant. Remember that the face has dimension, conturing creates depth to the face which is flattering on a lot of women. To contour your cheeks, use your pinky finger to find the cheek bone. Right underneath that is where you want to place your bronzer, the reason why being you want to give the cheek a shadow effect thus creating depth. Other good places to add the bronzer is on your temples, jawline and a bit on the neck.

Again just experiment with colors and remember that it's not about having lots of makeup everywhere on your face. Stay simple, if you have a lot of eye makeup on don't go for a bright lipstick. Less is more in most cases so play around and just have fun!