Glam Slam: Makeup Mondays – Spring Trends For Women Of Color

The forecast for Los Angeles today is sunny and warming up after lots of cloudy and chilly weather the past few days. It’s finally feeling like Spring, which means updating your cosmetics bag for the season.

“Many makeup trends are hard to pull off in real life, especially if you’re a woman of color,” says beauty expert Ning Chao from Beautylish.com. “Pastel eye shadow on brown skin—how will that work?” she asks.

Ning reveals ways to make this season’s makeup trends work for your skin tone (even pastel eye shadow!).

THE BRIGHT LIP
When it comes to a loud mouth, orange is the best choice for women of color. Because this shade is yellow-based, it will complement the warmer tones in your complexion and make you look radiant, but here again, pigment is important if you really want to see the lipstick hue. “Bright oranges and corals look great on a medium dark complexion,” says makeup artist Fiona Stiles, who works with Halle Berry and Paula Patton. “Just make sure to keep the rest of your face a little understated. Let your lips do the talking and be the focus of your look.”

PASTEL SMOKEY EYE
Whether your skin tone is olive or darker, lighter blue-greens and violets will look more flattering than a pale pink. The key is to choose a shadow that is rich in pigment, because you don’t want the color to look white and dusty. Applying an eye makeup primer will also help the color stand out against your skin. “The best thing to do to create a pale smokey eye is to lay down a light beige or white eyeliner to create a sticky base for shadow,” says Sofia Vergara’s makeup artist Beau Nelson, who recommends MAC Fascinating Eye Kohl. “It’s really creamy and you can blend all the way around the eye. Pastel shadows are usually sheerer on the skin than in the packaging. Putting something creamy down will create the shade you see in the compact and help it wear longer.”

MATTE BRONZER
To create a golden glow or a sophisticated sculpted look, bronzer can do wonders, even on darker skin tones. The trick is to avoid over-the-top shimmer. “Silver is not a color a brown-skinned woman can wear easily,” says makeup artist Sam Fine, who works with Iman and Vanessa Williams. He prefers using pressed powder in a shade that’s one or two tones darker than your natural coloring. To enhance a darker complexion, Beautylish users love Cover Girl Queen Collection Natural Hue Bronzer and Iman Luxury Pressed Powder.

For more beauty inspiration, check out www.beautylish.com.