I've been making word clouds out of the color names found on my seasonal makeup lists. 



​They're interesting to look at, because they help you see which colors are key in a season's makeup palette.

Like the other 11 makeup lists, Light Spring's list has hundreds and hundreds of products.  Among all Light Spring cosmetic products, here are the color names that occur most frequently:

If you compare this word cloud to the Bright Spring cloud from a few weeks ago, you'll notice that both seasons prominently feature "coral" and "pink" -- but a key difference is that Light Spring has many more products called "brown." That reflects the fact that Light Springs have a few great browns, while brown is mostly a non-starter for Bright Spring. 

It's not common to meet women of color who fall into the Light seasons, but Alicia Keys is one such, I believe. She looks her most natural in Light Spring's delicate, light, pure and warm colors. 

If you think you might be a Light Spring, but you're not sure, try the affordable at-home draping cards. When you know your season, you save a lot of time and money.  :-)

In last week's post, I shared my Bright Spring makeup list word cloud.  This week, I want to show you the word cloud I made for Dark Winter.  

The Dark Winter makeup list  has hundreds of cosmetics that have been matched to color-accurate Dark Winter fans.  

As you page through the list, you'll notice that certain color words pop up again and again. Here are the colors words you'll find most frequently on the Dark Winter list:
​

"Plum" is the clear winner, huh?  Dark Winters are indeed all about the plums. Dark Winter makeup is cool-toned, rather saturated, and generally pretty dark (as you'd imagine!)

Of course, on a Dark Winter, these colors don't look dark -- they look exactly right. 

Each of  my 12 seasonal makeup lists features hundreds of individual products that have been matched to color-accurate palettes. 

I thought it would be fun and instructive to create a word cloud for some of the makeup lists, using all the words from the list that are color names.

​Here's the word cloud for the Bright Spring makeup list:

Neato, right!?

If you don't yet own a Bright Spring makeup list, seacrhing for cosmetics with these words in the title might help you increase the odds of choosing a product that will work for your Bright Spring face. 

Notice that "pink" and "coral" are the two most frequently occuring color words in the names of Bright Spring cosmetics.  Pinks (both cool and warm) and orangey-pinks are so important for Bright Spring.

Bright Spring makeup colors are pure, warm-toned, and generally not very dark. (Thought Bright Spring can wear black, particularly as a liner or mascara, other colors on her face tend to be on the lighter side.)

In your correct seasonal makeup, you'll look like the most gorgeous version of yourself.

​Not sure what your season is? Try the at-home draping cards -- they're an affordable way to figure out your color season.  :-)

Last week I talked about the fact that, though all of your palette colors are gorgeous on you somewhere, they don't all look natural on your lips. 

Now I want to describe a good way to figure out which of your palette colors are best on your lips. 

In a nutshell, the colors that will look most natural on your lips are
 - your MLBB,
- darker versions of your MLBB, and
- a handful of colors very close in hue and value to these

Your MLBB is your "my lip but better" lip color. You may already have a lippy in your stash that you know is your MLBB. If you don't, stand in front of a mirror with your palette and locate the peach, pink, red, or violet that is precisely as dark as your lip and the closest to it in warmth or coolness. (Your natural lip color will be less saturated than any  of these palettte colors; you're basically finding the more saturated version of your natural lip.) 

A lippy that's an  MLBB will always look natural on you. Additionally, colors that are the same hue as your MLBB but darker will also look natural on you. Going very dark within your MLBB hue might be your evening lip, but it won't look unnatural.

In general, avoid opaque colors that are lighter than than your MLBB. This usually looks unnaatural. 

The other colors that will look most natural on your lips will be the colors closest in hue to your MLBB, and as dark or darker.  So if you're a Bright Spring whose MLBB is on your fuchsia strip, you may indeed be able to wear one of Bright Spring's violets as a lippy; the violets are close in hue to the fuchsias. You will find less luck with one of BSp's orange lippies, because orange is pretty far  from fuchsia. 

My MLBB is a neutral Soft Autumn pink that's medium-dark.  I'll wear other pinks and reds that are very close to this color in hue, but I won't go all the way to a Soft Autumn brown -- even though those lippies exist.

If I feel like it, I''ll go somewhat warmer or somewhat cooler within my palette. But I won't stray super-far from this central MLBB hue, and I won't go lighter in value, unless it's a gloss.

And this is what I recommend you do as well:
Find the hue that looks most natural on your lips, and choose lippies that stay relatively close to that hue.

For example, if your MLBB is an orange, experiment with your reds -- but don't stray all the way to a violet, unless you  want to make a statement.  :-) 

And if your MLBB is a violet, experiment with your reds and purples -- but don't stray all the way to orange.

When you know your  MLBB, use your seasonal makeup list and a computer to find the lippies from the list that will look the most natural on your face.

(Computer images aren't completely color-accurate, but you don't need them to be if you have the seasonal makeup list; if it's on the list, it's a color from your season.)

Just check the computer image to make sure the hue and value of the lippy seem right for your lips. Then buy it!