Should Your Makeup Match Your Hair?

4/19/10

Should Your Makeup Match Your Hair?

Sienna Miller's gold tone makeup matches her golden blonde hair. Photo: Getty Images

We know you know the importance of coordinating your makeup with your complexion (fair-skinned gals: ditch the ruby red lips, please). But, did you know that matching your gloss, blush and eyeliner with your hair can be equally as important?

Celebrity makeup artist Brett Freedman, who works with Hollywood celebs like Vanessa Hudgens, Jessica Biel, Emily Blunt, and Sienna Miller, believes that coordinating your shades of makeup with the shades of your hair will help you pull off the most flattering look. "Next to skin tone, it really makes a huge difference," he says.

It's all about complementing your hair's warm or cool tones to create uniformity.

"Cool toned blondes would use less golden tones with their lip and cheek color than a beachy blonde. Brunettes kind of have free reign," Freedman says. "Their hair is impactful and a great face framing balancer."

Freeman goes on to say, "Blondes have to be careful to bring their face to life with makeup, but not overpower their lighter look. Redheads are trickiest. They are generally more freckled so they have to make sure their makeup looks crisp so as not to 'muddy' their sexy freckles!"

Other makeup matching tips from Freedman include:

Brunettes: Opt for more vibrant hues, like plums, burgundies, reds, and metallics.

Black Hair: Put the focus on your eyes with smoky shades like charcoal and navy, and keep lips and cheeks subtle with sheer pinks.

Red Heads: Try bright and airy shades like sheer greens for eyes and dewy pinks for cheeks and lips.

Blondes: Play up golden glows with iridescent, shimmery shades.

And if you're wondering about matching your hair's style, length or texture to your makeup, Freedman says this is not as important. "It's mainly about color," he advises. "But, if you have very full, thick hair you may want to make sure your make up isn't too overpowering. Also, if you're wearing your hair tightly back or have very short hair, you may want to subtly amp up your makeup to create interest."

When in doubt, Freedman suggests looking at pictures of celebrities with your coloring and checking out their red carpet looks to see what works and what doesn't.