Makeup Advice for African Americans

If you want your makeup to look the most flattering, you should choose colors based on your skin tone. From lipstick to eye shadow, here are the best makeup shades for African Americans.

First you'll need a foundation to match your skin. This will be different for every woman and you may need to experiment. In general, women with dark skin should look for a foundation with a blue undertone, those with medium-toned skin should go for a red-yellow hue and those with light-toned skin should pick a golden shade. If you feel you have uneven skin tone, you may want to have a few different shades on hand to create the most flawless finish.

For blush, avoid colors that look ashy or pale on your complexion. If your skin tone is medium to dark, look for a deep hue, like currant or plum, but, if your skin has lighter tones, try a pale color like apricot or rose.

Eye shadows are an easy place to experiment with color. Many hues will look pretty on African American skin of all tones, so you can select shadows and liners based on preference or trends if you like. Natural earth tones like browns, cinnamons and shimmering gold can be subtly pleasing. If you want to make brown eyes pop, go for blue eyeliner.

The lipstick makeup advice is that those with darker skin tones can pull off darker lip colors. Rich blackberry works for the darkest skin, currant or red matches medium tones and neutrals and glosses will look pretty on lighter skin. If you don't want to draw attention to or have your lips be the focal point of your face, you can stick to subtle and universally flattering shades like caramel and soft brown.