Color Theory 101

Good morning everyone! Sorry we did not get a chance to post yesterday. Our Las Vegas based mobile beauty team ventured over to Henderson for the day to attend a few workshops. We are patiently awaiting the arrival of our brand new full flash website. (*Ally screams with excitement*) It should be up and running any day now. As soon as it is, I will let you all know so you can go view the project that Lauren and I have placed our blood, sweat, and tears into for the last three months. We have hand picked every color, movement, word, and space on this website and it is going to be AMAZING thanks to Heather and Joey at Posh Web Design. If you ever need a website, Heather is your girl! (http://www.poshwebdesign.com/)

Today, I would like to discuss color theory. If you are sitting there saying "Ummm, Ally, I have NO CLUE what that means!" Its okay! That is why I am here. To help you improve your knowledge of makeup products and skills.

Color theory is "a set of principles used to create harmonious color combinations." (Yes, that was, once again, pulled strait out of the dictionary.) What this all comes down to is the color wheel. If you have taken any sort of basic art class, I am sure you are familiar with it. The color wheel breaks down primary colors, secondary colors, complementary colors, shades and tints of different colors. (Shade and tint are what happen to a basic color when you add either black or white to them.) This is how we get beautiful colors such as olive green, light pink and maroon.

Now that I have shed a little bit of light on what color theory is, GO PURCHASE A COLOR WHEEL! You do not need anything special, just a tiny paper one (they are available at all arts and craft stores for around $1.00) This is a wonderful tool to have in your makeup collection to use as a reference point. I guarantee that if you ask any professional makeup artist, they will tell you they a) either keep one in their kit at all times or b) they have been doing makeup for so long that they have it completely memorized.

I bet you are probably saying "Why on earth do I need to know shades, and tints, and blah blah blah? I'm not a professional makeup artist."

It is simple actually. We have all at one point (Yes, even me) been guilty of matching our electric blue eyeshadow to our electric blue T-shirt. This is when a color wheel would have come in handy. Instead of matching your eyeshadow to your shirt, you should try using complimentary colors. For example, if you are wearing an amazing blue blouse, you should try using complimentary colors for your makeup which would include shades and tints of orange. (I love MACs Expensive pink, Brown Down, and Motif eye shadows.) To find a complimentary color, you simply look across the color wheel. Whatever color is on the other side is the complimenting color (and any shade or tint of that color would work just as well) If you were wearing a beautiful olive green eyeshadow, you might want to use a burgundy lipstick because red and green are complimentary colors. There are so many amazing color combinations that you would probably never think of if it weren't for a color wheel. Complimentary colors are just the beginning. You also have things like tertiary colors (which are colors that are formed by mixing a primary color with a secondary color (Such as... blue-green and red-orange) and analogous colors which are three colors that are side by side on a color wheel (Such as... yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-orange) You can learn so much about color combinations and color theory by experimenting with a color wheel.

Painters use color wheels ALL THE TIME to help their paintings look aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Why would the color combinations of makeup on your face be any different? We all want to look harmonious, don't we?

I could go on for hours, however, I think I have said plenty for your first lesson on color theory. I hope this helps and if you guys have any questions, OR any topics you would like us to "blog" about for you, please email us at LVStyleSirens@yahoo.com. We love to hear feedback and what you guys would like us to discuss next!

xoxox
Allyson Stagg
CEO of The Las Vegas Style Sirens

PS Happy 3 year wedding anniversary to our very own Mrs. Lauren Gardiner and her husband Ethan. Hopefully, he can put up with you for at least 3 more :) JK. Love you.