The Art and Science of MAKE UP
HOW DO I CHOOSE COLOURS TO SUIT SKIN TONE:
Given below are the various methods
to help you to choose suitable shades for face, eyes, lips and nails for
various skin tones, But firstly, it is important to understand the makeup
artists’ canvas-The skin, and
Its various
tones:
SKIN TONES
What is it that determines our skin colour? We tend to think of skin
colour as what we can see visibly with our naked eyes and tend to define this
in terms of light or dark.
However the colour of the skin is not just determined by the outer
colour but something we call an “undertone”.
To understand this we will have to revisit a principle of physics
called “light refraction’. When light enters our skin, it penetrates the skins
many layers and travels back out of the skin, in the process reflecting the
tones and colours of the various cells and blood vessels inside the skin!
Normally our principle skin tone is created by the amount of melanin pigment
we have in our skin-the people who have more melanin will have darker skin and
people with less melanin have lighter skin.
However, our undertone is a “reflection” of the colour not only of our
skin pigment but also the tones of the various skin cells and blood vessels underneath,
which are reflected back when light, refracts from our skin.
For example, we may be very “fair skinned” with very less melanin in
our skin and as a result prominent blood vessels under the skin become more visible
giving us a “pink undertone”. Conversely, our skin may have so much melanin
that it appears dark on the surface and since the melanin completely covers our
blood vessels our undertones may appear “yellowish”. Another factor to consider
is that fair and dark have different meanings in different parts of the world,
as they are comparative concepts!
For example, famous Indian actress Kareena Kapoor (see picture) may be
considered very fair in India where a majority of the population has brown
skin, whereas in Europe she would be considered medium skin toned!
In Mexico or South America Penelope Cruz may be considered fair but in
Norway she would be considered dark!
Nevertheless, to make life simpler, we have divided skin colours into three
different categories: Fair, Medium and Dark but taken these as benchmarks in
context of different parts of the world.
Furthermore, the skins are divided into three different undertones:
Ivory: This is the undertone found in women with very pale skin giving the
skin an alabaster type appearance.
This type of undertone can often look “pale and unwell” without
makeup.
Beige: This undertone is usually apricot/beigish pink in colour and is found
on medium skin women. They are the lucky ones who can look perfect even without
makeup! The term “peaches and Cream complexion was probably coined to describe
this kind of skin tone!
Ochre: This is the most common skin tone found in Indian and Asian skins and
people with this tone have an almost “yellowish” colour to their complexion.
Without makeup, this type of undertone can look ashen and lack radiance and
glow.
PART 1: SPECIAL
OCCASION AND BRIDAL MAKEUP
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Copyright
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Copyright © 2014 by Lippi Lal All rights reserved. No
part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other
electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the
publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews
and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.
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Congratulations Lippi. How & where does 1 pick up a copy of your book?
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