COLOR ENHANCERS: WHAT COLORS SUBLIMATE OUR EYES AND HAIR?

That of color is a complex and wonderful world that embraces many disciplines. Many think that “color” is only and necessarily linked to fashion and the way we dress, but in reality color is a crucial point of all the arts we can think of: painting and sculpture – of course – but also cinema, cooking, makeup, hair, design, architecture, furniture, even music is now subject to the world of color ever since videoclips were invented. Color is everything we see and that our eyes perceive, and it can transmit positive or negative emotions to us.

With the study of color season analysis we learn how to evaluate the way our skin reacts to different colors, coming to the conclusion that there are “friendly colors” that make us look fresher and more rested, and others that instead they penalize us because they come into contrast with our natural tones.

Today I would like to put skin aside for a second to talk about a particular category of colors that react with our hair and our eyes, which I like to call “color enhancers”.

WHAT ARE COLOR ENHANCERS?

Color enhancers (or intensifiers) are “magical” colors that are able to bring out our natural colors like no others! Among all of those that belong to our color palette, enhancers are able to make our eyes look much brighter, our hair shinier, and make our color features really pop and stand out.

Color enhancers work by affinity or by contrast, and are different for each individual: if our color palette is in fact common to all the people who share our same chromatic characteristics (temperature, value, saturation), the enhancers are instead peculiar to the individual, and change from person to person.

Color enhancers are perfect for: tops, eye shadows, glasses, jackets, scarves and headscarves, jewelry, lipstick.

As for the color enhancers of our hair, these work mainly by contrast. Do you know those purple shampoos that tone blonde hair? Well, the thory is basically the same, and therefore broadly we can say that:

If you want to emphasize brown hair, use the blues of your colour palette.

To make blond hair stand out, choose your purples.

To sublimate your red haid, greens are your best options.

Go with white for black hair and viceversa.

As far as eye makeup, instead, color enhancers are:

• Purple and burgundy for green or hazel eyes.
• Gold, orange and pinks for blue eyes.
• Blue for brown eyes.

Of course these are quite rough guidelines, but as I said before color enhancers are unique and different for each person. Those with less homogeneous eye or hair color can choose to highlight a particular shade of color using a specific enhancer.

In some cases I also wanted to take into account the color of the eyebrows, which many image consultants neglect: I always hear about skin-eyes-hair, but eyebrows are an equally important color indicator, which is not always the same tone as our hair. For this reason, among the example color enhancers I created for you, I also included the eyebrow color, as for me it is an integral part of the eye frame and helps to “support the gaze” if you can say so. 😊

A precaution with regard to color enhancers and makeup: be careful to use enhancers similar to your eye color if you have large, round or prominent eyes, because they will eventually put emphasis on this; if you have small, sunken eyes, on the other hand, enhancers for affinity (such as blue on blue eyes) are perfect because they “amplify” the eye, while a contrast enhancer (for example dark purple on green eyes) will make them stand out in terms of color, but at the same time it will make them look even smaller.

A trick can also be using the same shade a tone or two darker than the color you want to bring out. How many times we are told that a blue sweater brings out our blue eyes … well, it’s true! As long as it’s the right shade of blue for you! 😉

Some final considerations:

Making your eye or hair color stand out at the expense of your face (wearing an unfriendly color) will not do you any favors! For this reason, you have to keep in mind the colors of your palette and choose the best color enhancers among them! I.e. it is true that orange enhances blue eyes, but if you are part of a cool season (like True Summer) orange will also be your enemy color. Therefore, choose enhancers that do not “clash” with yours overall look and skin tone.

The examples of color enhancers that I have created here for you are not made with the “dropper” system which literally takes a color from our iris, because I find it can be misleading. If I took a part of a blue eye with the dropper, I would probably get a white, or a gray, even a light green; for this reason, it is important to consider the overall color that our eyes perceive “at a glance” precisely, and not the one obtained from a single pixel 😊

Let me know if you kenw about color enhancers already, and what you think about them!

If you want to book a color consultation with me, please write to me on my IG account @enricascielzo