I’M LOVING how the recent Oscar win of Lupita Nyong’o has pushed her into the limelight, making her the newest It Girl and fashion icon. She looks like a graceful gazelle, and the line from her speech saying “no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid” has gone viral. What a great inspiration for young girls everywhere!
It just goes to show that we should all celebrate diversity and embrace our own uniqueness.
There is no reason for women to want to look like alabaster-skinned models if you have a natural caramel color, and therefore no reason to have to drink or inject yourself with Glutathione or bathe and lather in all sorts of whitening products.
SELENA GOMEZ
There is also no reason for Caucasian women to have to spray paint themselves (and sometimes turn out a strange shade of orange) or spend incredible amounts of time baking under the sun just to get a tan.
We all need to learn to just be comfortable with who we are and what our natural assets are, and work on enhancing that instead of trying to be someone we’re not.
Who’s to say whether one type looks better than the other? Everybody is different and everybody can be gorgeous in their own unique way.
Here’s a guide you can refer to for selecting the right colors for your skin tone:
1. Light skinned- If you’ve got naturally fair skin, like Anne Hathaway, Angelina Jolie or Katy Perry, the best colors to wear are those that can contrast or set it off beautifully. Jewel tones, for instance, would look amazing—emerald green, cobalt, red, bright purple or the color of the year, Radiant Orchid.
KATY PERRY
For day or casuals, pastels would be a good choice as well—like pink, lavender, or baby blue, excluding light yellow. For neutrals, go for camel or dark gray because black would be too severe and beige or white would make you disappear.
As for hair color, go for dark brown with mahogany or golden highlights. Do not opt for jet black unless you want to look like Morticia Adams, and do not go too light also because you will look washed out.
If you want to wear colored contact lenses (and to me this is just like playing dress-up), choose the darker varieties like coffee, dark green or dark gray. Avoid the very light shades because you want to contrast your light skin with something dramatic instead of trying to match it… unless you’re trying out for the role of Ice Queen?
2. Medium skinned- For girls with a natural warm tan or caramel glow—a la Selena Gomez, Jessica Alba or Jennifer Lopez, you would look smashing in metallics, particularly gold or bronze. Neons and other bright colors like hot pink, tangerine, neon yellow would set off your tan well also and be very attractive.
JENNIFER LOPEZ
For metallics, dove gray is a nice choice, as well as white, off white/beige, or black. For your hair, a chocolate brown base would be appropriate, with subtle blonde or caramel highlights, and as for tinted lenses, hazel or light brown are my best bets.
3. Dark skinned- Ladies with a deeper color, for instance Rihanna, Freida Pinto, Halle Berry or Tyra Banks can wear richer tones like forest green, maroon, or midnight blue, and the brighter varieties or jewel tones would work too.
HALLE BERRY
For pastels, light yellow is a flattering choice, and as for primary colors, red would be the best pick. As for neutrals, black is the most solid choice. You can wear your hair light or dark—jet black hair is quite striking, an ombre blonde, or bright mahogany.
You can also play with different colored eyes if that’s your kind of thing—blue a la Aishwarya Rai, light brown kinda like Beyonce, or au naturel.
At the end of the day, all we really need to do to look fabulous is to love ourselves best. With that comes good health, a happy heart, a peaceful disposition and the confidence to show the world that we are one-of-a-kind.