“Hello, I ran across your blog and you really give good advice. I wanted to know do you know any colors that look good against dark skin. I tried some makeup of my own. I really just started using makeup not that long ago. Thank you for your advice.”

-Jaynae

First, thanks for writing in Jaynae! You have a beautiful dark skin tone that can be enhanced by contrasting or blending with colors to look amazing. (She included a pic, but understandably doesn’t want it online). Try bright, light pinks and oranges, they’ll show up subtle and pretty on your tone. Because you’re not looking for a high pigmentation here, you can choose cheaper brands for this look.  A bright turquoise shadow on the top lid with a pale gloss would be cute, since it seems like you enjoy fun, young colors. I suggest trying a few at Sephora or the department store to find a brand and shade you like. For something sultry, try lining the eyes with black and using bronze shadow in the crease to create that smoky look. A great book to check out is Beauty of Color by the model Iman (otherwise known as David Bowie’s wife).

Here’s a beautiful example using light pink shadow on the cheeks and eyelids:

Alec Wek sporting some bright blue, although definitely with more dramatic flair than I’m suggesting. But, you can see the great color contrast:

I couldn’t find an example on a darker tone, but here’s an eyeball showing the black and bronze sultry look. It looks like there some mauve shadow used to diffuse the bronze as well. The bronze will be more subtle on you, but you can enhance the ‘bedroom’ effect by bringing the black higher if you so please.

Hope these tips help! Lemme know how the experimenting goes….