What is the color wheel?
For all of the non-artist types out there, the color wheel is a summary of basic colors and their relationships to each other!
For example, take the primary colors. These are red, blue, and yellow. They are the basis of all of the rest of the colors, and you can make any color (except white) using them.
Then, you have the secondary colors. These are the colors made by mixing two of the primaries together. These are made when mixing equal quantities of both colors.
("P" stands for "primary"; "S" for "secondary")
Example:
Blue (P) + Red (P) = Purple (S)
Red (P) + Yellow (P)= Orange (S)
Yellow (P) + Blue (P)= Green (S)
If we keep going down the list, we also have tertiary colors, which are made by mixing either a primary with a secondary or two secondaries. These colors are somewhere in between the shades of both colors. Check out the example to see what I mean! ("T" means "Tertiary").
Example:
A. Green (S) + Yellow (P) = Green-yellow (T)
B. Purple (S) + Red (P)= Red-purple (T)
Those are both examples of mixing a Primary with a Secondary to create a Tertiary. This leads into why you must use equal quantities of two primaries to create one secondary color. In Example B, if you break down the math on what's happening here, we have X quantity of Red and X quantity of Blue that combine to make Purple. So, when we mix this with more Red to create "Red-purple," we are really creating a shade that is a 2:1 ratio of red to blue.
However, when creating tertiary colors, it really doesn't matter how much of another color you use to create the new color. It all depends on what color you want!
When you mix two secondary colors, you get a kind of mud, nasty color.
Example: Orange (S) + Green (S)= ugly, nasty brown that has a heavy yellow undertone.
Every color is either warm or cool. Ideally, the primary colors are neither: They are neutral. But, achieving a pure color is a tough task, so this may not always be the case. Check out this diagram:
If we want to break this down even further, there are warm and cool shades of the secondary colors too:
When you go through the different rows, row 1 has colors that are both purples, but one is warm and one is cool.
Now that we can see between warm and cool colors, we must make one last important notation regarding tones, shades, and tints. So far, we've been discussing hues, which are the same things as colors. The words are interchangeable.
Tints- Any color that has been lightened by adding white to it. These create the pastel colors. If you add white to red, you have created a tint of red, which in this case happens to be pink.
Shades- Any color that has been darkened by adding black to it. For example, say you want to make a blue color darker. You add black to it, and you have now created a shade of blue.
Tones- Any color that has been mixed with grey. Something to note here is that mixing a color with grey is completely unlike mixing it with black or white, which doesn't seem to make much sense. Let's compare the different tints, shades, and tones, though, and the difference is clear.
Why does any of this matter?
So, right about now, you're probably thinking "I've been doing this since Kindergarten. This is really stupid and obvious. I can mix paint." And, I understand where you're coming from, just stick with me here. All of this was a segway to really understand why we put certain colors in our makeup, and how to attain certain results on our faces taking advantage and manipulating color.
Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel compliment each other. Red to green, yellow to purple, and orange to blue are some examples, just to name a few, but you could look on the wheel and make many more pairs yourself. These are convenient because our skin is full of color!
When using the color wheel to choose makeup, while it's true that we want complementary hues, you must be careful because putting red next to green on your eyelids will most likely look somewhat silly and gaudy. You want complementary tones to be on different places on your face.
For instance, as a green-eyed girl, I use a moss colored green as the main color on my eyelids, and I can also wear red lipstick with it. I don't look like a clown because they're on different parts of my face!
For instance, as a green-eyed girl, I use a moss colored green as the main color on my eyelids, and I can also wear red lipstick with it. I don't look like a clown because they're on different parts of my face!
Let's start with the eyes:
Green Eyes
For green eyes, purple is your best friend. How did I get that? Well, if you look on the color wheel, red is across from green, but if I were to put a bright red on my eyelids, I'd look ridiculous. So, you choose colors that have red undertones, like a warm, plum purple. This is why I discussed tones, shades, and tints as well as warmth/coolness of colors. We take the basic red and manipulate it to get some more colors. Let's look at this diagram:
Red, orange, and yellow are warm colors. Those are the undertones we want. But, we can have purples, blues, and greens that all have red, orange, or yellow undertones. This is where it gets a little tricky.
Here are the colors that would look best on green eyes. This obviously isn't a conclusive list.
These are all warm tones that are neutral, earthy tones. I can wear that green, moss colored hue because it has a red undertone. It is not a pure or a cool toned green, therefore it is still warm. These will exaggerate and accentuate green eyes because of the red hue underlying all of the shades. Can you see it? As you can see, we have an oranges, purples, greens, and browns.There is little to no yellow or blue present.
Blue eyes are probably the easiest to match colors for because blue is a primary color. When you look across the color wheel, it directly matches orange. This doesn't mean that you should put the brightest shade of orange on your eyelids. You want makeup that has orange undertones. This could be a shade of gold, amber, or even a light shade of orange. The key is to find shades that are warm colors.
If you look back to the colors for green eyes, you'll see that some of those colors overlap with the colors for blue eyes. This is because both eye colors require warm shades of color. But, blue eyes have more options in terms of blues. Blue will accentuate blue eyes, but it will diminish green eyes if not used carefully. Golds will look especially good on blue eyed people.
Brown eyes are a mixture of different tones of the primary colors, so brown eyed people have a lot of options when it comes to eyeshadow and eye makeup! You can pretty much wear any colors. Keep in mind, though, some people have warm, amber toned brown eyes, and some people have a cooler toned brown for their eyes. Either way, the steps for choosing colors are the same as for green or blue eyes! Identify if your eyes are a warm or cool brown, then choose colors from there!
This is a sample palette for a warm toned brown eye. Also, other variations on brown eyeshadow would look great on a brown eye. There are so many options for brown-eyed people. Almost any tone of brown, gold, and then certain shades of light blue all look fantastic for a brown-eye.
If none of this is clicking for you and you're struggling to see the differences between colors, you're not alone. If you'll allow me to nerd out for a second, when I go to chemistry lab, we have to use different chemicals as indicators. They change color and help you figure out the pH of the solution. I was the only one who could distinguish between certain colors, so some people have an eye for it, and others don't see it so easily. Again, though, I grew up in a creative home, constantly around art, so I might be more sensitive to it!
Don't fret!
If you don't see the colors, Almay has a complete set of eye makeup sets that are perfectly calibrated for your eye color! I have the eyeshadow and eyeliner for green eyes. I highly recommend it. It really makes my eyes pop. If you look at the photo of the palette below, you'll see that it has a heavy warm purple tone to it that is consistent with what we already discussed! The eyeliner that corresponds is a warm purple as well that has grey in it (a tone of purple).
How the color wheel can help your complexion:
Remember how opposite colors on the color wheel complement each other? Well, they also cancel each other out. For example, when you're dying your hair, if you accidentally put too much red in it, you dye green on top of it. I'm sure some of the readers have been through this disaster! Or, if you dye your hair, you're supposed to use color retaining shampoo and conditioner specifically for your new hair color. If you're blonde, your shampoo will be straight up dark purple. Or, you can use purple hair dye to keep the color nice and to enhance it. Same type of thing applies to your face!
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| Elf Color Correcting Concealer |
If you have dark under eye circles, they're probably purple. Instead of using concealer that's the same color as your skin, you should use a yellow or orange color because that will cancel out the purple! Once you apply the concealer, you cover it with your normal, skin-toned concealer, and set it with your powder! Then you're bright eyed and bushy tailed just like that!
If you purchase the Elf Color Correcting Concealer pictured, it has all the different hues you could ever need to fix blemishes on your face!
For any zits or things on your face, you should use straight up green concealer. It sounds awful, but the green will cancel it out completely! Then, just like the under eye cover-up, you cover it in regular concealer, then you can put setting powder on top of it and you're good to go. Here's a video from youtube about it for some more information on how to do this:
I hope you've found this post about the color wheel informative! It's really important for all aspects of your beauty routine.
Sometime in the future I'll talk about how to use the undertones of your skin and the color wheel to choose clothing colors that make your skin look brighter and healthier! But, that's a whole other post!
