Tips On How To Match Makeup With Your Outfit

I know most people don’t give makeup a second thought. And here I am telling you to match makeup with your outfit. I’m going to share my top tips on how to plan a makeup look to complement your outfit, so you can create a cohesive and elegant look head-to-toe. I promise it’s not hard at all — and you may even have even more fun whenever it’s time to get dressed up 😀

Matching Makeup With Your Outfit Does Not Always Mean Using The Same Color

I think it’s important to know that matching makeup with your outfit does not always mean matching colors. What I find very helpful is to look at an outfit and figure out what the main tones are. Tone essentially refers to whether the outfit is warm, neutral or cool. Here’s a quick refresher:

• Warm tones refer to colors such as yellow, orange, reds, cream, off-white
• Neutral tones are white, beige, brown, black, and gray
• Cool tones are colors such as blue, purple, pink, green

Related:

Understanding These Two Basic Facts About The Colour Wheel Will Seriously Improve Your Makeup Game

Thinking In Tones Instead of Specific Color Makes Choosing Makeup Much Easier

I know what you’re thinking: most outfits have a mix of warm, neutral and cool colors, so how do you figure out what the main tones are?

Here’s my trick: take a step back, look at the outfit, and see which color(s) catch your eye instantly and tends to present itself in majority. Once you know the color, then you can decide on the tone and figure out how to match makeup with your outfit.

Let’s look at a few examples together:

How To Match Makeup For Creamy White Dress

At first glance the cream skirt and green detail from the pineapple design catch my eye. The cream is more dominant and this tells me the outfit is mostly warm-toned, so my makeup has colors that are from the warm tone category.

How To Match Makeup Look For Blue Dress

The royal blue immediately catches my eye and this tells me the outfit is cool-toned. But I can’t help but notice the dull gold border too and this is warm-toned. So, what do I do? Go right in between: choose a neutral-toned makeup look!

How To Match Makeup For Pastel Dress

The pink and purple color from the blouse jumped at me and they’re both cool-toned colors. It was hard to ignore the creamy beige skirt, which is warm toned, so I decided on a more neutral-toned makeup look with pink and purple to complement the outfit.

A Few Rules To Follow When Matching Makeup With Your Outfit

1. Choose Either The Eyes Or The Lips To Be The Main Focus Of The Makeup Look

To make things easier for you, choose one part of the face to be the main focus: eyes or lips.

If the main focus is the lips, then make sure to wear a bold color that matches your outfit. Like in the cream outfit above, I made the lips the focus of the look and used a warm coral-red on the lips. The eyes were very simple.

If the main focus is the eyes, then make sure the lips are more subtle. For the blue outfit above my eyes are the focus, so I wore a softer matte pink lipstick to not draw attention away from the eyes.

2. Make Sure Lips And Cheeks Are The Same Tone

If you’re wearing a warm-toned lipstick such as coral, brick, or terracotta, then make sure to have a blush in a similar tone.

If you’re wearing a cool-toned lipstick such as pink, red or maroon, then make sure to have a cool-toned pink blush.

Ensuring your lips and cheeks are the same tone is an easy way to ensure your makeup look is cohesive. Nothing looks stranger than a pink blush paired with a warm-toned lip 😀

3. If You’re Wearing Eyeshadow, Then Be Mindful Of The Tone

Once you have decided the tone of the makeup look, make sure everything you use is in the same tone: eyeshadow, blush and lipstick. A cool-toned eyeshadow with a warm-toned lip is like wearing a brown belt with black shoes — big no no.

4. If You’re Not Sure, Just Go Neutral

Sometimes it’s just hard to figure out what makeup looks to wear. In this case, go neutral and you’ll look just fine. Neutral makeup is essentially using neutral colors like black, brown, cream, and nude. So, one example of a neutral makeup look is a brown or black smoky eye paired with a neutral-toned blush and lipstick. You can opt for a nude lip. For medium to dark skin tones, I think wearing a neutral pink lipstick works too.

Related:

The Simple Gold Shimmer Eye Makeup Look You Can Do In 10 Minutes Perfect For Any Party

The Perfect Green Smoky Eye Look For Fall

Easy Wearable Orange and Pink Neon Makeup Look

The Neutral Makeup Look That Works With Any Outfit Day And Night

Easy And Flattering Red Lipstick Makeup Looks For Brown Skin

These are my go-to tips on how to match makeup to your outfit. I don’t think it’s hard or complicated, if you know what to look for. It just takes 30 extra seconds of thought as you get ready, I promise 🙂