How-To: Coordinate Hair and Makeup (Up, Half up-Half down, and Down)

A few key tricks I use when considering doing my makeup for a high ponytail hairstyle are:

• Contour under the cheekbones to slim down the face
• Create a winged eyeliner look to make the eyes the centre of attention
• Choose a bright pink or red lipstick and downplay the eyes
• Spend more time on the skin to really perfect it
• Fill in eyebrows and create an angular shape

Hair Half Up-Half Down

(average skin and hair day)

This is one of my favourite hairstyles. It has lots of variations and therefore it goes with lots of makeup looks. If you start collecting the first half of hair closer the top of the head, the makeup will be more similar to a ‘hair down’ makeup; Closer to the temples, do your makeup more like a ‘hair up’ look. The one I chose is much closer to the top of my head, in fact only the fringe was pinned up for this look, so I chose to do my makeup more similar to what I would do for a ‘hair down’ makeup. This hairstyle is flattering on most people. If you’re a bit conscious of your forehead, maybe try to leave a bit of hair loose at the front so the forehead is not completely exposed.

For this look, my makeup tips are:

• The skin doesn’t need to be too perfect. Focus on the parts of your face that won’t be covered by your hair (forehead, nose and chin).
• The use of blush and highlighter will light up your face and make it stand out from the parts of the hair that fall down your face.
• Eyebrows are just as important as on the ‘Hair Up’ makeup.
• Don’t deepen too much the colour on the eyes if you have dark hair, or your eyes will disappear.
• Keep the lips simple.

Hair Down

(bad skin day; good hair day)

This is where I tend to use my hair as more of an accessory to downplay my makeup. For this look, your face will be partially covered on the sides and maybe at the front, if you have a fringe, so these areas will be naturally hidden and don’t deserve too much attention. I tend to go for this look if my skin is having a bad day or if I can’t be bothered to spend a lot of time on my makeup.

I would recommend the following tips for this look:

• The key is on the lips; From red to nude, you can dare to be bold, as your lips are guaranteed to be uncovered. If you’re spending a long time out in the open or it’s a windy day, stay away from sticky lip products, or you may end up spending a lot of time unsticking hair from your lips :)
• Give yourself a healthy skin look, which normally means less foundation and more visible skin. Also, count on a good blusher to fake those rosy cheeks if you need to.
• Contouring is not as important because the sides of your face will be concealed by the hair.
• Like on the ‘Half Up-Half Down’ makeup, make sure your give your eyes plenty of contrast with your hair. For my features (olive skin, dark brown hair and eyes), I go for copper and golden brown shades on my eyes.

I hope this post was useful and enjoyable to some of you! Let me know what is your favourite hairstyle & makeup combo, and if you have any tips you would like to share, please do :)

Au revoir!

Ysis