For me at least, I say it’s a do! — as long as I’m not wearing the exact same colors from head to toe.
Like, I really don’t think I could pull off a blue dress, blue accessories, blue nail polish and blue eyeshadow from lash line to brow bone…but if you can, more power to ya. I think it all depends on your personal style. Done well, even that degree of matchy-matchy can look really cool.
I shoot for coordination moderation (hey, I just made a rhyme!) and focus on one or two accent colors, like if there’s a pop of coral in a print I’m wearing, then I might match it to a reddish coral lipstick or a peach gloss, or if I’m wearing a gray dress, I might go with bluish gray smokey eyes, like in that pic up top.
Instead of completely matching my makeup and clothes, I’ll go for more of an echo, echo, echo…as opposed to something more obvious that shouts, “HEY, MA, CHECK US OUT! WE’RE MATCHY-MATCHY TODAY!!”
I don’t know… I just don’t want to look too Miss Havisham, ya know? I’m in my late 30s now. If I were still in my teens and 20s, completely different story.
What about you? Do you ever coordinate your clothing and makeup? Do you have pairings you particularly like? I’m always on the market for ideas. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I do! And I fully agree that as long as it isn’t head to toe with all those crazy chunky accessories and matching flats or heels…it’s okay. And fun too!
I think when you’re younger, you really can pull off more trends but that doesn’t mean that I don’t occasionally take a risk.
I don’t do it too often only because I typically stick to more neutral makeup colours but every now and then I’ll pull out a matching nail polish or lip colour.
I don’t tend to match my clothes to my makeup, because it’s almost impossible to get an exact match, and the colors end up clashing instead. If I wore a red lipstick with red shoes, I’d spend all day uncomfortably conscious that the lipstick was slightly cooler or warmer than the shoes. I do tend to pair cool colors with cool, and warm with warm–fuchsia lipstick looks nice with a navy shirt, for instance. But in general, if I want to wear a crazy-bright color on my face, I’ll stick to black, gray, or white for my clothes. I’m a coward that way. 🙂
Right there with you! I tend to stick to tones rather than absolute colours too.
I don’t do a match since I wear in neutrals always.. and even at occasions i don’t like to match!!
Oh why not? Most of the stuff I wear are dresses with bold prints, so I often pick a similar shade I can spot on the dress out to sport on my eyes or lips. It’s much easier to decide what makeup I’m going to wear this way!
I’m always neutral but also wear a lot of neutral colors so I suppose that counts. 🙂 I would definitely be conscious of not having clashing colors, like a red dress with bright pink lips (I know, as if I’d have bright pink lips).
I don’t generally and got very frustrated when everyone I talked to about my wedding makeup insisted on trying to put me in Blue eyeshadow because I was wearing a Blue dress. In the end I did my own makeup and used pinks and plums instead.
(Boy do I wish I knew half of what I know now!)
Sometimes if I am wearing a solid bright top and jeans or dress I will deliberately not match my makeup just to add some more color to the look.
Overall, I don’t do it. But I like your term of coordination moderation haha. And I do certainly get those days when I feel like going all out in orange or something.
I often coordinate. Although typically my makeup style leans more natural, if I ever do a teal or purple lash line it is usually when I’m wearing the same color in my outfit. If I’m wearing a print I usually chose a color from that to repeat on nails or lips or something like that.
I do match my eye shadow with clothing .. in general. I mean, if I’m wearing a yellow top, then it’s neutral eye shadow, not yellow eye shadow .. lol.
Monica.
What colors did you use on your eyes in the pic above?
There was a Bobbi Brown ad last year where the model wore bright pink lips with orange hoop earrings. It was stunning. I was all matchy-matchy until that add, but now I think a little contrast looks much more sophisticated. Also the coordination moderation is nice 🙂
That Hourglass eyeshadow looks so glam on you. I envy brown-eyed peeps. You get to wear ALL the eyeshadow colors 🙂
I totally do this. I’m not much of an “accessories” sort of girl, so I sometimes depend on my makeup to really pull a look together. Love it!
I almost always do this! Since I tend to wear mostly brighter colors, sometimes I’ll pick shades that aren’t an exact match but are in the same family (a little lighter, say)–or, in the case of something like cobalt or bright green, I may just do work that in via eyeliner–but it definitely pulls together the whole look, I think. 🙂
I often coordinate makeup with my outfit, but don’t like the “matchy matchy” look. In fact, I had a meeting with a woman once who had exactly coordinated her teal blouse with the teal eye shadow she was wearing and I thought it looked… like a bit much. I mostly wear neutral eye shadows, the coordinating often comes via liners or lip color. My look is on the conservative end of the spectrum, but I like to play up my eyes and love liners in forest green,navy/cobalt blues or dark browns.
Not really! I know what looks good on me, and generally stick with it.
Also, I wear a lot of black and the only black makeup that comes anywhere near me is mascara.
Haha, coordination moderation is definitely key. I can’t remember the last time I purposely matched exact shades but I have matched with different gradations. I definitely THINK of makeup as part of the overall outfit/look. Do I want to color-block or accent anything? I try to coordinate between all the colors I’m wearing in my outfit and face so everything stays cool-toned or warm-toned against neutrals. If I know what the lighting and colors will be like where I will be, I will try to factor my makeup in for that too. Definitely not a makeup artist or anything–it’s just I don’t want to look like a corpse if I’m trying to do a presentation under overhead fluorescent lighting.
That said, I kind of love it when I see matching makeup and clothing on other people. I don’t think it’s too much–I see it as someone being playful with their looks.
Ah I love this look on you, Karen!
There is nothing wrong with tying your whole look together. I love this look on you. Its very Victorias secret like!
I try to colour coordinate but don’t really match what I’m wearing to my makeup 100%. The closest I’ve come is wearing green jewelry and doing a look with green eyeshadow or the like.
This look is great on you, by the way. 🙂