Makeup on African Women

Until recently, it was a challenge to find cosmetics to match skin tone and coloring of African American women. There were rarely any brands that created products for this immense market which left these women with severely limited choices in makeup. However, this has changed in recent times and many well-known brands now have a great variety of cosmetics to cater to women of darker skin colors. Here are some tips for African American women:

1. The right makeup for the right skin undertones:
The underlying tones of African American women's skin are very different from her Caucasian counterparts. It is very important to understand the skin tone when choosing your makeup colors because the underlying tones determine how the colors appear when they are applied.
In general, African American women should avoid makeup that has a generous hint of pink or peach. If your African American complexion has red undertones, you have 'warm' skin while yellow undertones mean your skin is 'cool'. Other than these two, African American complexion may also have blue undertones. Women with 'warm' skin can go for reds, magentas, mauve, orange, and yellow. While those with 'yellow' undertones look good with violet, aqua, brown, and amber. Blue undertones are best highlighted with red, teal, orange and shades of blue.

2. Choosing the right foundation:
Choosing the right shade of foundation is critical to achieve a flawless look. Always try out the foundation before you buy it to ensure that it matches your skin tone perfectly. It is important for your natural rich skin color to be evident and not overwhelmed by the foundation. The wrong foundation shade can leave your skin looking ashy or chalky while the right one allows the natural richness of your skin to shine through.
You may want to achieve a different look each time you apply makeup. For a natural finish, pick up a sheer foundation which is usually available as a liquid. To cover up uneven skin tone or blemishes, opt for medium coverage foundation that is thicker. Matte finish foundation is perfect for oily skinned women who want to avoid the shiny, greasy look.
This keeps it on for longer and also prevents it from cracking around your eyes and mouth. Blend the foundation well until your facial tone matches your neck. Follow up the foundation with a dusting of loose or pressed powder in a neutral shade to smoothen it all out and to keep it looking fresh and natural.

3. Blush for the African American Women:
A hint of blush adds a touch of color to dark complexion. Rich shades that go well with your lipstick for the day are the best choices. For day time makeup, you should typically use a light touch of blush but you can go bolder for evening looks. To achieve a dramatic look, use frosty colors and bronzers. Blush adds a touch of low to dark skin that is quite difficult to achieve otherwise. It makes your face look lively and fresh.
It is important to choose the blush shade with care to avoid a harshly look. pick a shade that enhances the skin's undertones. Light skin tones go well with light bronze, pink or peach blush shades. Take special with the blush application on lighter skin tones because it can easily appear too heavy. Women with medium skin tones can pick up light reds, oranges while dark skinned women look great with plums, fuchsias and deep reds. Bronze is a good color for any African American complexion. Avoid the bright pinks and pastels which will give your rich skin a pasty, chalk look.
One thing to keep in mind with blushes is that a bit of gold shimmer adds the perfect touch to dark skin. It gives you a stylish, elegant look without making you look overdressed. If you want your face to have a fresh look without sacrificing the sophisticated appearance, just add a touch of blush with a gold shimmer.
Apply the blush to the apples of your cheeks. Seasoned makeup experts also apply blush from the cheeks upwards across the side of the face right up to the hairline. if you are using a cream blush, lightly tap with a napkin to remove any excess blush.

4. Eye Makeup for African American Women:
When applying your eye makeup, the deepest color is applied over the crease of the eye. A lighter shade or medium color goes over the eyelid and the highlighter, a lighter shade, is applied along the brow bone. A surprisingly good choice for the highlighter is toast or pale pink which enhances the eye shade in women with darker skin shades. For the base colors you use over your eyes, those with mild, subtle undertones look best on African American complexions. If you have warm undertones to your skin, pick up orange, rust, honey or cinnamon shades for your eyes. Cooler complexions go best with blue and purple. Pink is also a good option, provided you are comfortable with the slightly brighter effect it bestows.
For the eye shadow, the darker the skin color, the brighter the colors you can flaunt. Adding a touch of shimmer with gold adds the perfect touch of glam to your eyes. To combine bright colors and shimmer, simply combine two complimentary colors, one of which is metallic, say purple and gold. This particular color combo makes for dramatic eye makeup that look great both during daytime and in the evening. For subtle eye makeup, use earth tones like cocoa, toffee, or gold. For a touch of color, you can pick up sapphire, light plum or olive green.

5. Smokey Eye Makeup:
Many women prefer a more or less nude look for daily wear makeup and put on their smokey eyes for special occasions. For African American women, blue or purple is a good choice for a smokey eye look. Line your lower lashes with a stroke of black liner over the inner rims of the eyes. next follow it up with purple shadow lines on the lash line. The same color goes over your lids as well right to the crease of the eyes.
Add a blue shadow with shimmer to the center of the eye lids and blend well right up to the crease. Make the cat's eye by extending the top line outward and up. Complete the look with a liberal application of mascara on both top and bottom lashes with emphasis on the outermost corners of your eyes. Some other good colors for the smokey eye look are purple, violet, blue, indigo, metallic navy blue and blue green. Choose iridescent shades to add just a touch of glimmer or go bold with a generous addition of shimmer and sparkle to the center of the eye lids.
Black and grey are also great choices for smokey eye makeup whether your skin is light cocoa or ebony. For mahogany skin complexions, add more grey to mix to get the perfect smokey eye look. Fairer skin warrants the use of more black over grey for a dramatic effect.

6. Spring or Summer Eye Makeup:
Colorful bold eye makeup is trendy and perfect for summer and spring time. This look allows you to match your eye makeup to your bright clothes and gives you a fun and youthful look. When experimenting with this look, keep in ind that your eyes should perfectly complement your overall appearance while suiting your skin tone. You can use a good variety of bright shades for this look including greens, purples and blues. To keep your eye makeup bright but still get a professional look for office wear, choosing bright eye liner or line the eye with bright eye shadow instead of going for an all-over bright look.
Vivid purple eye makeup is a great choice for you if your skin has orange undertones. Yellow is an unusual color that instantly sets you apart from the crowd. This is a good color choice for women of color with red skin undertones, especially if your skin is mahogany or dark brown. The yellow shade highlights your eyes and gives you a perfect summer day look.
Blue brings out the richness of brown eyes to the maximum and is a great look for younger women who desire bright and trendy eye makeup. This color highlights your eyes and works well with smokey eyes too, especially when you use indigo, navy, gray-blue or deep blue shades.
Add a finishing touch to your eye makeup with liquid eye liner or an eyeliner pencil. Deep brown eyeliner sets off your eye makeup in the best possible way. Charcoal is a good choice for a more dramatic look but it needs to be applied with care and with the right color combination so that you avoid making your overall appearance too dark. The biggest advantage with African American skin color is that you can use shimmer and sparkle as well as bright colors without appearing overly made-up.

7. The right lip color for African American women:
Choosing a lip color that accentuates your makeup without either diappearing or appearing bad is a challenge for women of color. The best option is to go for earth tones, dark burgundy, pale pinks and neutrals. Avoid going bright pink or light red. If you prefer a more natural look, just dab on some lip gloss and leave it at that. Pick a gloss that is the same shade as your skin tone and you get a rich color that accentuates the pout. Skin tone lip gloss also keeps your makeup from becoming too colorful while giving your lips a perfect sheen.
For a cute, girly look, us gloss that is brighter. Shades like coral or peach add brightness to your face and ive your lips some contrast against your rich skin color. These shades are perfect for women with warm undertones to their skin. Get a more feminine look with pink gloss which softens the lips and makes them stand out. Opt for the lighter shades of pink so that you add just a hint of color to your lips without making them stand out vividly in your face. Berry shades are a good choice when toy want to add color in a subtle way.
If you prefer to color your lips with lipstick, ensure that you match the shade to your skin undertones. Light skinned African American women can carry off pale and deep pink, taupe, red and peach lipsticks. Medium toned skin looks great with red, medium to deep pink, magenta, bronze and browns while dark skinned African American women can try deep red, magenta, bronze, fuchsia and rich brown. Add some definition to your lips using a lip liner that matches the lips gloss or lip stick shade. Take care to avoid a darker lip liner since this will leave a visible outline over your lips.
In general, it is best to keep your lipsticks shades subtle so that they do not draw the attention away from the rest of your face, especially the eyes. However, if you do love bold lipstick colors, you can choose to highlight only your lips by keeping your eye makeup and facial makeup toned down to the barest minimum.