What makeup goes with your dress, by colour
When a client comes to a trial in a white t-shirt and a hoodie, then looks in the mirror and says "it seems like too much", the makeup is often not the problem. The background is.
Makeup is not judged on its own. It is judged on you, next to the colour you will actually be wearing. The same look reads completely differently next to a black dress, next to a nude one and next to a red one.
Why I ask you to come dressed in the colour of the event
You do not have to come in the dress itself, that would be absurd. But if you wear something in a close colour, a t-shirt, a blouse, a scarf, you see at the trial exactly what you will see on the day.
Otherwise the classic thing happens: we approve a look against a white background, and in the evening, next to the black dress, it seems to have vanished. It has not vanished, the contrast around your face has simply changed completely.
When I build a look I look at your features, at the shape of your eyes, at the hair, at the type of event and at the outfit, at the colours you will be wearing. The outfit is not a detail, it is half the decision.
Makeup for a black dress
Makeup for a black dress needs contrast. Black takes almost anything, but it demands it. Either a defined eye with clean skin and a discreet lip, or a strong lip with a simple eye.
What does not work is everything at maximum at once. Next to black, a built-up eye plus a strong lip plus very luminous skin becomes tiring in photographs.
Makeup for a red dress
Makeup for a red dress most often goes wrong in the same place: the red is repeated on the lips, at the same intensity as the dress. The two colours fight and neither wins.
I go for a defined eye in warm tones and a nude or brick lip. If you still want a red lip, I choose one deeper than the dress, never identical.
Makeup for a green dress
Warm tones: bronze, copper, burgundy. They push the green of the dress forward through contrast.
Green on the eyelid is the classic mistake. It fights the dress and dulls both the eyes and the outfit. If your eyes are green too, all the more so, see what works on green eyes.
Makeup for a blue dress
The warm family, opposite blue: bronze, caramel, peach. A touch of gold in the inner corner makes the dress look more saturated.
Blue on the eyelid, next to a blue dress, flattens everything. The same logic as with blue eyes.
A nude, beige or powder dress
The hardest case, because the dress brings no contrast at all. If the makeup is discreet too, everything washes out and you look tired in photographs.
Here I raise the contrast on the face: defined lashes, a brow with a clear direction and a lip one tone stronger than you would normally choose.
A gold, silver or sequinned dress
The dress is already shining. If I add glitter on the eyelid as well, plus very luminous skin, everything is lost. I keep the makeup cleaner and let the dress do the show.
What matters less than you think
The pattern of the dress, the cut, the neckline. Those matter for the hair and the jewellery, far less for the makeup.
What matters, in order: the dominant colour of the outfit, the metal of the jewellery, gold or silver, and the light of the place you are going to.
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Frequently asked questions
Why should I come dressed in a colour close to my dress?
Because makeup is not judged on its own, it is judged on you, next to the colour you will actually be wearing. A look that seems perfect over a white t-shirt can read washed out next to a black dress or too strong next to a nude one. At the trial I want you to see exactly what you will see on the day.
What makeup goes with a black dress?
Black takes almost anything, but it demands contrast. A defined eye with clean skin works, or the other way round, a strong lip with a discreet eye. What does not work is everything at maximum intensity at once.
What makeup goes with a red dress?
I do not repeat the red at the same intensity on the lips, because the two colours fight each other. I go for a defined eye in warm tones and a nude or brick lip, or a red lip deeper than the dress, never identical.
What makeup goes with a green dress?
Warm tones, bronze, copper and burgundy. Green on the eyelid is the classic mistake: it fights the dress and dulls both the eyes and the outfit.
What makeup goes with a blue dress?
Bronze, caramel and peach, the warm family opposite blue. Blue on the eyelid, next to a blue dress, flattens everything.
Does the colour of the accessories matter too?
Yes, but less than the dress. I look first at the dominant colour of the outfit and at the metal of the jewellery, gold or silver, because it changes which tones of light I choose on the skin.
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