Poll: Favorite Colors For Darker Skin Tones

[mjalomo]

I noticed several posts requesting help with makeup for darker skin gals.
I was wondering, what colors do you love to use on darker skin.

I'm a NC45(Mexican-American) and I love:

Eyeshadow: Sable
Lipstick: Fresh Morrocan or Strength
Lipglass: Ornamental Lusterglass
Liner: Coco Bar Liquidlast
Blush: Peachiness/Blushbaby duo
Pigment: Melon or Tan
Colors I wish I could find a flattering shade in: pinks, blues

[maxcat]

Amber Lights. Really pops. Any of the metal/velvets, like star nova or sumptuous olive are great.

For pinks - have you tried Paradisco or Expensive Pink? For blues, the new waternymph is pretty sweet on brown skin... it's a green/blue but very very pretty.

[coachkitten]

Another good one that you should try is Bronze e/s. It looks gorgeous on darker skin!!!

[gingerbelle]

NC43 with yellow undertones here

Eyeshadows: woodwinked, bronze, bagatelle (LE), Amber Lights, Ricepaper, Tempting, Exp. pink, gorgeous gold, shimmermoss, sketch, Antiqued, romp, arena, rose pro, all that glitters, juiced, rule, brown down

Other eye stuff: magrittes and bamboom paints; corn, taupographic, mangomix shadesticks

Lipstick: Coconutty, Bronanza(asia excl ), O, fetish, meltdown, honeyflower, high tea, fresh moroccan, shag, sophisto

Lipglass: oh baby, entice, nymphette lipglass; spring bean, beaux, tranceplant Lustreglass; goldensoft, sapphoric lipgelees

Liner: Handforged, engraved powerpoints, dipdown fluidline. Aqualine for a fun pop of color with a bronze eye

Blush: blunt as contour, sweet as cocoa, ambering rose, breezy, margin and trace gold as highlights and amber lights eyeshadow as bootleg version of gold deposit MSF8)

Pigment: Rose gold and pink bronze pro, naked and sunnydaze (lighter and less gray/purple tones than coco, so less bruisey-looking on warm complexions IMO)

Colors I wish I could find a flattering shade in: purples (make me look bruised and highlight undereye circles), greens (make my yellow-undertones look sallow and washed out, i.e. sickly)

Other: Brassy fluidline makes a great long-lasting base! Chestnut lipliner doubles as eyeliner and hodgepodge lipliner+ high tea makes the perfect brown girl nude lip

[Quiana]

Love:

e/s: Humid, Swimming, Waternymph (l/e),
Pigments: Copper Sparkle, Blue Brown, Old Gold, Azeal Blue (l/e)
Lip/lustreglass: Nymphette, Pink Clash (l/s), Of Corset! (l/e), Instant gold, Beaux, Decorative
Lipstick: Pink Cabana (l/e) Apre Sol (l/e) Indie Girl (l/e)

[JesusShaves]

i was a NC-42 (filipino) but i've been tanning (tut tut) so i guess im darker now hah

Eyeshadow: showstopper, humid, aquadisiac, coppering
Lipstick: girl about town & tempting
Lip/lustreglass: pink poodle, budding,springbean, wonderstruck, love nectar
Liner: cherry, magenta, cranberry
Blush: stereo rose msf, variety, ambering rose
Pigment: bright fuschia, rose, melon, acid orange

[TheMinx]

I'm a warm-toned NC45-50 and I love:

Lipstick: Push-up Plum, Sophisto, Sheer Plum, Polished Up
Lustreglass: Trace Plant (love this!)
Eyeshadow: Expensive Pink, Budding Pink, Satelite Dreams, Texture
Blush: Desert Rose, Sweet as Cocoa, Ambering Rose
Liner: Chestnut

[Eemaan]

NC42

Eyeshadow: Elite
Lipstick: Touch/Honeyflower
Lipglass: Languish (Sundressing collection) and Beux Lustreglass (YUM)
Liner: Stilleto Liquid eyeliner
Blush: Sunbasque
Pigment: Coco Beach

[Colorqueen]

I absolutely love either acid orange or Electric Coral (is that what it is called) pigments as blush on darker skin depending on the skin tone as to which I use. Brings the face to life with a beautiful glow.

Fabulous look to it. Also So Ceylon MSF and Metal Rock MSF are great too.

[Kels823]

Awesome Thread.

NC45 - 50:

E/S - Juxt, amber lights, paradisco, honey lust
Lip/Lustrestuff - Love Nectar, Instant Gold, Viva Glam V, Enchantress
Lipliners - Cork (have to be careful cuz it can overpower the lip/lustre and wind up looking muddy), chestnut (ditto w/ cork), currant
Piggies (I havent tried alot so this is due to my limited exposure..) - Melon, Tan and Rose
Blush - Used to use Margin... l8ly have just been doing bronzer in refined gold deep

thats all i can think of right now... sorry if I re-mentioned stuff

[toby1]

NW 45
Eyes-Steamy, Humid, Era, Haux, Embark and of course Engraved PP
Lipstick-Oolong, Film Noir, Dubonnet, and Sweetie
Lipglass-SQUIRT and Prrr
Lipliner- Chestnut=HG and Plum
Blush I have tons but hardly ever use
Piggies- Tan & Coco Beach

[sharrismx6]

NC 44-45, C6 and NW43

I concur with the above and would like to add the following suggestions.

Lipglass: Lust

Lustreglass: Flashmode

Lipgelee: Jellybabe and Goldensoft

Lipstick: Charismatic (I wear this alone and with Ornamental l/g over it).
I also apply Beaux l/g over Touch l/s. I wear both w/Cork l/l.

Lipliner: BBQ, Hodgepodge and Spice

Eyeshadow: Contrast, Tilt, Deep Truth, Cranberry, Goldmine, Goldbit,
Folie, Carbon, Mulch, In Living Pink; Embark, Black Tied,
Greensmoke, Femme Noir, Retrospeck, Romp, Sable,
Woodwinked, Mythology and Shroom

Paints: Tan Ray, Bamboom, Sublime Nature, Graphito and Artjam.
Artjam and Graphito are both dark colors so use sparingly.
They're great to use alone, as a crease color or
smokey-eye.

My HG is Artjam, it's lovely by itself or layered with a
wash of Sketch or Mulch over it. Apply with 217 or 242

Shadestick: Sea Me (blue), Gracious Me (lavender), Beige-ing (Beige,
love this as an eye-brow highlighter. This also looks
great with a wash of Shroom over it.), Taupographic
(Taupe) and Gentle Lentil (Brown/Bronze).


Everyday looks, Gracious Me under Artjam or Gentle Lentil
on lid and Taupographic in crease blended up.

Eyeliner: Engraved, Smolder, Prussian and Auto-De-Blu

Fluidline: Waveline, Blacktrack, DipDown and Brassy (as base)

Blush: Style, Peachtwist, Peachykeen, Slave to Love, Dollymix,
Springsheen, Gingerly; Sweet as Cocoa and Plum Foolery

Bronzer: Golden, Refined Golden (I typically use this as a blush.
It's very pretty with Style layered over it. It reminds me
of Nars Casino and Sin Combo).

CCB: Fawntastic and Improper Copper


I'll update periodically as I find new Favorites/Obsessions.

[MAChostage]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gingerbelle

NC43 with yellow undertones here

My twin! Your list reflects probably 85% of the colors I have in my own collection. I wish we had a list of Spectra member's foundation colors for reference somewhere on here. I put mine in my sig, as you see below, and a lot of times (at least for me) it really helps to know what someone's coloring is when they're talking about different products.

Oh, and for blush, which I normally don't wear, one of my MAs turned me on to "Format", and I like it!

[OnaFyre]

Here are some products I love. Many have already been mentioned and some are l/e or exclusive somewhere (nordies only or freestanding only, etc.). My coloring is N9-Studio Fix, NW45-SFF, Founation Stick and all concealers, NW600- HyperReal, Deep Dark- Blot and the new MSF naturals (love these!).

Eyes: Woodwinked, Sumptous Olive, Club, Orange, Rose pig., Violet ig., Old Gold pig., Amberlights WITH Antiqued (similar to new Heat/Element e/s duo) for various effects. Right now I'm using Folie or Brown Down as crease colors, but I'm still dissatified with MACs collections of darker browns to use in the crease for darker skintones. Some of my other eye staples are Vex, Arena, Smut, Embark, Sketch, Carbon, Cranberry, Patina.
Paints: Bamboom, Tan Ray, Flammable.

Lips: lipstick: VGV, Fetish, Fresh Morrocan, Diva, Hipster, Media, Scanty, Spanish Fly.
Lipglass: PINK CLASH!!! (at the moment, over VGV l/s), Rule of Plum, Darjeeling, Oh Baby (esp. the old formula with the chunky glitter), Elle/Phosphorelle.
Lusterglass: Sinnamon, Trans Plant, Decorative, Star Nova.
Lip liners: my new fave is 80% creamstick, its not as dark as Chestnut. And a bunch of dark red ones.

Cheeks: Blunt for countouring. Slave to Love, Coppertone, Peachykeen, any MSF used softly as a highlight.

[kannan]

I'm an NC40 and this what I like:

Eyeshadow: Summer Neutral (and i like goldbit too)
Lipstick: Sundressing and/or O
Lipglass: Viva Glam V
Liner: I like a lot of liners, certain browns don't show up on me by themselves though
Blush: NARS orgasm (sorry i'm a traitor) or sweet william blushcreme
Pigment: Coco

[OnaFyre]

Thanks to the Mods for making this a sticky!!!

[MAChostage]

Great! Thanks, Mods!

[Lady_MAC]

This is exactly what I was looking for! Yay

[ThaHigher]

You know..I'm working dual tones...I'm olive in areas...n-e-wayz...

Eyes:Falling star, dazzlelight, heat/element, satin taupe, coco beach, Rose gold, Goldenaire,Trax, star violet, amber lights, gold mine, de menthe, naked lunch, jest, sable, arena, embark, gorgeous gold, freshwater, steamy, tilt...etc.

Lips: hmm....Ruby woo, Rebel, Jest, Flutterby, sunnyboy,garden, grape l/l all over w/ gloss on top, Hi-Resin rose stain, Coco Framboise stain, (i think its') Red scheme, spectra peach stain, Pink poodle l/g, jellybabe, lychee luxe, squirt, revealing, nymphette, pink packed...etc.

Face: I love and use as a foundation the Select moisturecover...I'm also loving the MSF natural...Medium dark, dark, and deep dark...umm...

Blushes/ HIghlighters: Shimpagne, Metal Rock, So Ceylon, Nars exhibit A and Taj Mahal, Raizin, Sweet as Cocoa, Ambering Rose

Stuff I'm trying to get to work: Pinks just don't work for me on the eyes..I'm trying still..and most greys don't show up on me how i'd like...I sometimes try to resist golds and oranges and browns on my skin, mostly cause they're the standard...but I can't always resist...

[OnaFyre]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThaHigher

I sometimes try to resist golds and oranges and browns on my skin, mostly cause they're the standard...but I can't always resist...

ME TOO! I usually try to resist because that is often all people think I can wear or will wear and so that is all they will recommend for me. How many times has someone tried to force Copper Sparkle on me! I've gotten to the point that I won't buy it on principle.... but I do have a sample... and a backup sample...

Being a woman of color into makeup is such a double edged sword. There are some tried and true things that will look great on us, but so much other stuff will look great if we (or the MA we work with that day) will give it a chance to shine for us. Sure, it will look different on me than NC20, but it might be a really cool effect I wouldn't have considered otherwise. Fairylite pigment for example. What a great matte brow highlight for me that I wouldn't have discovered if I hadn't found it at a CCO and got it because it was cheaper than normal.

Do people have other products like that?

[calbear]

See I am just the opposite. I hardly ever wear the golds, bronzes, oranges and browns. I am a big fan of the pinks,purples, blues and greens. On my NC50 skin they pop my amazingly.

As an MA, I find that most women of color only want the bronzes and oranges and will never ever let me try anything else. I can understand why so many MA's only pick those colors to use. They only want Oh Baby and chestnut, amber lights, Bronze and Woodwinked, Format.

ANd don't get me wrong I love those colors and they can be used with some great flair but so many won't let you go beyond that.

As an NC50 who loves colors like Stars and Rockets, Steamy, Sushi Flower, Sketch, Nocturnelle, Parfait Amour, Freshwater and all the other crazy beautiful colors, I love to try new things on customers.

[LineausBH58]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calbear

See I am just the opposite. I hardly ever wear the golds, bronzes, oranges and browns. I am a big fan of the pinks,purples, blues and greens. On my NC50 skin they pop my amazingly.

As an MA, I find that most women of color only want the bronzes and oranges and will never ever let me try anything else. I can understand why so many MA's only pick those colors to use. They only want Oh Baby and chestnut, amber lights, Bronze and Woodwinked, Format.

ANd don't get me wrong I love those colors and they can be used with some great flair but so many won't let you go beyond that.

As an NC50 who loves colors like Stars and Rockets, Steamy, Sushi Flower, Sketch, Nocturnelle, Parfait Amour, Freshwater and all the other crazy beautiful colors, I love to try new things on customers.

Thats me too... I'm a purple, greens, pinks, and deep blues kind of gal..more pop the better...
today i have on Juxt, Mancatcher, and Hepcat... with Dipdown f/l

I LOVE mulch and amberlights... embark is my friend. ... but I reach for Club, Nocturnelle, Hepcat, Shale, Waternyphm, Fade, Constast. ..more than era or shroom or my other brown tones

on my lips: bare fetish, plum(dressing???) film noir with nico over, fetish, lip friendly pigments like Grape or Lovely lily

Blush Flirst and Tease, Tigerlily(and whats the other one with it) and Format(i just got for a bronzer look... or to tone down another color)

[twobear]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calbear

See I am just the opposite. I hardly ever wear the golds, bronzes, oranges and browns. I am a big fan of the pinks,purples, blues and greens. On my NC50 skin they pop my amazingly.

As an MA, I find that most women of color only want the bronzes and oranges and will never ever let me try anything else. I can understand why so many MA's only pick those colors to use. They only want Oh Baby and chestnut, amber lights, Bronze and Woodwinked, Format.

ANd don't get me wrong I love those colors and they can be used with some great flair but so many won't let you go beyond that.

As an NC50 who loves colors like Stars and Rockets, Steamy, Sushi Flower, Sketch, Nocturnelle, Parfait Amour, Freshwater and all the other crazy beautiful colors, I love to try new things on customers.

I think women of color are scared of bright, vibrant colors. There is a a great fear that color will look clownish on our skin. It took a MA to convince me that a bright orange blush looks fantastic on my skin tone. Rich, vibrant blues, greens and purples make my eyes pop instead of "blending in" with my skin tone. Thank you to the MAC artist that led me to the dark side of the force!!!

[MAChostage]

Quote:

Originally Posted by twobear

I think women of color are scared of bright, vibrant colors. There is a a great fear that color will look clownish on our skin. It took a MA to convince me that a bright orange blush looks fantastic on my skin tone. Rich, vibrant blues, greens and purples make my eyes pop instead of "blending in" with my skin tone. Thank you to the MAC artist that led me to the dark side of the force!!!

You are absolutely, positively right about this! This reminded me of when I visited a counter recently and a darker sister was having the MA try different things on her. She remarked to me that she was trying to experiment more with makeup and was shy about certain colors and asked if I was wearing MAC (of course I was! ) and wanted to know what color I was wearing on my lips (it was Lovemate l/s). She said that she thought it was pretty and wondered if she should try it. I was like, girl you better get your Lovemate on! You're not gonna know if it works for you unless you try it! What have you got to lose? I love to see women of color wearing bright, bold complimentary shades!

[bellezzadolce]

Eye combos:

lid: Swimming
Crease: Texture
Brow:Goldbit or Ricepaper

lid: Patina
Crease: Romp
Brow: Shroom

lid: Vex
Crease: Sumpteous Olive + Plumage
Brow: Vex

lid: Hush
Crease: Folie + Sketch
Brow: Vanilla

Lip combos:

Pencil: Mahogany
Lipstick: "O"
Gloss: Spring Bean

Pencil: Hover
Lipstick: Honey Flower
Gloss: Love Nectar

Pencil: Mahogany
Lipstick: CB96
Gloss:Wonderstruck

Pencil: Nightmoth
Lipstick: Sophisto
Gloss: Star Nova

Face:
Hyper Real Foundation
Peach Twist Blush to contour + Springsheen Blush to highlight
Razin Blush to contour + Format Blush to highlight
Pinch Me blush
Paradisco Eyeshadow