What do you first think of when you hear the word pale? For me it links to illness, I was always called pale as a kid and could fake a sicky like no other.
You could associate it with being light in colour and when it comes to beauty, not many enjoy being called pale; they would rather porcelain, healthy or milky to describe their skin.
Milky white, porcelain skin to me gives a feel of elegance, angelic and in some cultures it can be a sign of wealth as it showed you did not work in the outdoor fields in harsh sun, hence the start of whitening skincare ranges.
Natural skin to me is good skin, looking like real skin and that includes it’s tone, so if you are on the pale side, embrace it, but be wary of some shades that can wash you out and give a pale complexion.
Beauty trends have seen a decline in overly tan skin on red carpets and on runways, opting to keep a woman’s natural tone. I like this idea as you see so many disaster foundation applications around; go to light and you can look grey, go to dark you can look muddy – who wants that?
It’s nice to have a glow and a tan can make the skin appear healthy, but some can go to far…
Foundation is often applied in incorrect lighting and some after time, just start to look patchy, making the incorrect colour choice very noticeable.
To me, the complexion is when you lift and add light to the natural skin tone you have, only covering necessary imperfections. The more product you apply, or the darker you go, you run the risk of being heavily made up.
MB PRO TIP: Always use an illuminating primer! This can illuminate your skin under the foundation, breaking down a pale look adding light and depending what base you choose can add warmth too.
For pale skins with a lot of pink present I normally use an illuminating primer with a slight golden sheen to it. This tends to balance and slightly flat out the pink/cool tones present, adding warmth that can give a healthy base for the foundation to be applied over.
If I have a pale skin with a more flat to dull appearance, no pink present but pale, it needs lifting, not warming. I would then use a pearl or silver base illuminating primer to brighten this light complexion.
These are my two favorite primers at the moment!
Estée Lauder Illuminating Perfecting Primer is so smooth on the skin and with a stunning gold sheen running through this light product, it is a great base for any skin with pink areas.
Tom Ford Illuminating Protective Primer ($95) is a stunning texture and has a built in silvery/pearl like base to increase light in any dull complexion.
Now that our skin’s base has light applied on the surface – very important to gain any lift in our skin, we can now add foundation, but often woman don’t know much about foundation bases and which ones to choose.
Every foundation range has at least 4 main pigments in them… Red, Yellow, Black and White.
The different concentrated levels and mixtures of each determine your shade base – Pink, Yellow or Neutral.
– Pink base foundations tend to add colour to a dull or mature skin, not as popular, but great when needed and this means it has more red pigments in the formula.
– Yellow base foundations give that golden glow, which is great for the olive complexions to uplift their often-tanned skin and of course, consists of yellow pigments.
– Neutral foundations are popular here in Australia, as they tend to flatten out any unwanted colour within our skin tone. Calming redness is easy with these black and white pigments.
Most cosmetic brands have all different bases to match these, and yellow base foundation often have black and white pigments added to them to help the neutralizing process that of a rosy skin.
Pale skins normally need a lot of neutral pigments mixed into the light shade. If too yellow they will get lines around the jawline and if too pink they can look to rosy, balance is everything.
My favorite foundation at the moment is Lancôme’s Teint Visionnaire! ($65) The beautiful texture glides over the skin, giving medium coverage and also has a built in under eye highlighter, which you dab over your concealer for instant brightness – Win!
With 12 shades and at least 5 in the lighter skin category, there is no struggle finding that often hard to find porcelain shade with either a pink, neutral or yellow tone to match your skin tone.
MB PRO TIP; Always test your foundation on your face, not your hand. If confused about the correct base right for you, place 2-3 stripes of the closest shades to your skin tone on the face and see which shade balances out and lifts your skin the most. Too dark could look muddy and too light could look dull.
Once you have your illuminating base and foundation to even out your porcelain complexion, you need to compliment your look with uplifting shades. Really pale skins should use more than just creams and browns on the eyes and avoid flat colours like browns, and beige on the lips, unless your other makeup is bright and bold.
Anything warm like golds (not too yellow), bronze, khaki, copper and coral colours can be great on the eyes, either as a wash, or a pop colour.
Avoid anything too pastel or blue as this can bring out the blue tone in pale skins. Also avoid too much pink on the eyes as this can bring out redness, but don’t be afraid to try a bold pink lip, (like Emma Stone pictured), they look so crisp on such milky skin.
Peach to pink blush is a great way to enhance your glow and give life to a ‘pale’ skin. Use across the apple of cheeks to give a plump effect, or use over a bronzer if you want a more defined cheekbone using bronzer to start with.
The best thing to remember ladies when having lighter skin is, think fresh, bright and life, so if any colours look dull, or too deep, they will not work for you.
Think summery and radiant in textures and always illuminate with a highlighter a primer to give your foundation an un-ill appearance.
Enjoy! x
By Michael Brown
Twitter: @mbrown_beauty
Facebook: facebook.com/michaelbrownbeauty
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