How does using lipstick work?
Lipstick colours for each colour season generally come from the same colour palette that is used for clothing. So lipstick, quite like clothing, resembles the colour aspects of each colour season. For example, a neon orange lipstick would look terribly wrong on a Soft Summer. Why?
Because it's bright and warm, while Soft Summer is muted and cool. A nude lipstick would be much more suitable here.
Forget what you know about seasonal colour analysis
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If you have tried to determine your colour season the traditional way before, I would recommend that you to forget everything you have read. Forget what a typical Light Summer or True Winter looks like and be open-minded. Remember: Not everyone fits the standard descriptions!
What do I need?
You can use any lipstick you like as long as the colour fits the colour dimensions of the colour season you are testing. I will use MAC lipsticks because they are widely available around the world and in a wide range of shades.
In addition, I would recommend that you try two lipsticks from each colour season that you want to test; one from either side of the lipstick spectrum. Why? Depending on the depth and hue of your colouring, some colours of the same seasonal colour palette will look better on you than others. This is because each colour season has a spectrum of natural colourings.
For example, you could be a dark blonde with deep blue eyes, but you are a Dark Autumn. How is this possible? Dark Autumns have dark hair and dark eyes. Well, if you have very high chroma despite your 'light' features, light colours will do nothing for your appearance. You need more intense colours to bring out your natural beauty.
However, your contrast level will not be as high as that of a Dark Autumn with brown hair and brown eyes. In this case, the deepest shades of the Dark Autumn lipstick range may look too dark on you, but the lighter ones will strike the right note.
What am I looking for?
A lipstick that suits you will blend in with your natural colouring on all three colour dimensions - hue, value, and chroma. So it will need to tick the following boxes:
Mac Lipstick For Dark Skin
Hue:
The lipstick does not make you look sick - by turning your skin either a sickly yellow or red.
Value:
The lipstick is not significantly darker than the colouring of your features. OR
Mac Red Lipstick For Dark Skin
The lipstick is not significantly lighter than the colouring of your features.
Mac Lipstick For Dark Pigmented Lips
Chroma:
The lipstick does not stand out and make you disappear behind it. OR
The lipstick does not diminish your natural colouring and make you look washed out.