Alright, ladies, has this ever happened to you? You get up one morning, get dressed and put on your makeup and think, ‘Wow. I look pretty good today!” The next day you put on your makeup in exactly the same way and get dressed but this time you think, “I really look tired.” What happened?
The answer is simple, says Merle Norman’s Madelin White. It all comes down to skin tone and the color of clothing you wear. Women can get confused about what make-up is right for them because they don’t understand the relationship between the two. “People come into the spa because they want to be able to wear something red and they’ve never been able to wear red. That’s easy to fix,” she says.
After 42 years in the spa business, White is a living encyclopedia of all things connected to beauty. In this case, she shares a bit about the color wheel as it relates to cosmetics. “If you think about your three primary colors, blue is always cool like water, yellow is always warm like the sun, and red can be anything,” she says. “If you add more yellow it becomes warmer, which is more like a tomato red. If you add more blue it becomes cooler, which is more of a cherry red.” Women with warmer skin tones won’t be able to wear the same shades of make-up as those with cooler skin.
But how does that apply to the same person on two different mornings? Depending on your skin tone, says White, the color of your clothing is either draining or emphasizing the color in your face. “Your clothes have to be working with the color of your skin.”
It’s important to note that our skin tone changes as we age, she says, especially when our hair has already turned gray. “If you ever doubt that, have somebody who has dark hair put on a gray wig and see what happens. Your skin has to lighten up in order to look right.”
The solution to finding the right look is to bring along an example of the shades of clothing you wear when you shop for make-up. “If you’re looking for the right red, either wear or take with you the color of red you normally would wear,” says Madelin. When you do, that changeling in the mirror will go away.
Along with recommendations on color, you can also find hair styling, waxing, manicures, pedicures, and massage therapy as well as free make-overs and free mini-facials, and of course wigs, at Merle Norman.
To learn more, visit Merle Norman online or at 3925 – 8th Ave SE in Lacey.
