Working with color - complementary colors

I have no background in makeup artistry or fashion, but I've been working as a graphic designer / art director for about ten years - and now I have year and a half of fine art studies on my back pocket. So I have been working with color quite a lot - why not write something about it.

Combining colors can be quite instinctive for some people, but if you feel insecure there are always the basic tool to get started with: the color wheel, familiar probably for all of us.


Most people feer very combortable when combining color siblings or analogic colors: colors that are located next to each other in color wheel. Complementary colors, however, might feel more challenging. Complementary colors are located opposite each other. To get little bit more out of this little exploration I will choose not just plain single complement pair, but analogic scheme from blue to purple plus complementary accent color from the other side of the wheel. It looks like this.


I know that there are at least of some people who really can rock color schemes like this. But usually it needs quite strong colors in hair, skin and eyes - plus lots of courage. The task will get easier when the other parameters of color are adjusted as well. I pick the four brights from this complementary palette and adjust the saturation in one row, lightness in other.


Wow, much more manageable! Of course it is possible to adjust both, saturation and lightness at the same time. And adjust the lightness towards the dark end. The whole set is not meant to be used together, but from here you can easily pick few colors that nicely complement each other.

And here's a real life implementation of this palette. I actually wore this last week (but forgot to photograph the deliciously yellow nails):


Deep, super saturated blue tights from We Love Colors, an old H&M dress in particularly uggly-attractive shade of yellowish pale brown plus cheap and cheerflul Rimmel nail polish (055 Sunshine) plus some black, white and gold accents.

The dirty shades from the opposite side of the color wheel + just one accent color create particularly easy and attractive combinations, they usually benefit from the freshening touch of white (or off-white) used in the same combination.

Here's another example with coordinating these complements, this time with makeup only. This is not real life experiment, but when I saw the images I knew that I will use this look combined some day. Color Club Catwalk Queen is from the blackened but saturated end of purples.


That manicure would look fabulous combined to simple but bright make-up. I really like eyeliner and don't feel uncomfortable at all to experiment with brights in makeup that relies strongly to eyeliner. I would pick any shade that has yellow component dominating the color, preferably a rich gold in tone (reddish, dirty, greenish, pure, yellowish...) that complements the skin and eye color for simple but festive look.


This is Fyrinnae Lucky Charmed, an incredible metallic finish gold with chartreuse tint. It foils like a dream with water or mixing liquid.

Sorry about the skintone, my camera has fixed settings for white balance, there are lightings when none of those settings quite work. And I'm too lazy to fiddle with RAW images for blog use...

There are many online color wheel tools to play with, try for example the particularly nice and easy Color Scheme Designer.

Color philosophy

I see painted nails as an accessory, not necessarily as a touch up or make-up. For that "me, just better"-look I think that well maintained, natural nails do a pretty good job for me. That shiny surface of traditional nail polish always exceeds the boundaries of "natural" somehow. For that reason so called "natural" manicures make me just feel a bit funny, like planting plastic trees to my backyard. Yes, they can look quite natural, from a distance!

So when I color my nails I usually opt to bright, funky colors. I try to complement my outfits and general look with nail polish, and there are much more factors than color of my lipstick that affect to my color choice. There is no official flow chart for color selection for me, but I've noticed some rules of thumb that I tend to use - most of the time.

I combine bright and loud nails with quite natural and light makeup, or light makeup with just one heavy accent. There are two reasons for this - manicure time uses up a big chunk of my maintenance time, so there is usually no time for anything too complicated after that. And I try to avoid "too done" look on me, whatever that means.

I like to contrast my nails to my outfits, somehow. Orange or pink brighten up often my gray or black outfits. If I wear soft colors it is nice to have something shiny and and loud on my nails. When I wear jewel tones I opt for bare nails - or in some occasions bright contrasting colors. Black, charcoal and almost black nails are my safe choice, those I can coordinate to many outfits and looks.

From varnish finishes I go often for opaque cremes, jellies layered to opaqueness, shimmers and some times foiled metal finishes. I hate to remove glitter polishes, plus I think that they are extremely difficult to coordinate to my outfits in satisfying ways, so I don't have too many of those in my stash. Duochromes are not my favorites, either (although there are exceptions in this category) - and holographic polishes are far out from my comfort zone. But matte look is just so totally me, especially in those safe black and gray! My general appearance is 101% feminine and I really like the nice contrast that matte nail look creates to all that excessive femininity...

I don't fancy to purchase whole seasonal collections at all. Of course sometimes there are colors that I especially wait and want, but usually I like to see some real life swatches on several nail types and make my decisions after that. Or I hunt for color with specific mood and don't care if it's new or old, collection or basic selection, popular or rarity. I want to keep my stash size very reasonable, so I tend to recycle my unsuccessful purchases and occasional shade duplicates. So you don't probably see too many news in this blog, but I hope that these images help someone else with those difficult choices and decisions to make.

Nail art is not my thing - too time consuming and too little impact for the time invested. That does not prevent me to admire a well made and exceptional ones on other people's nails. Well, I might do an occasional French manicure with a twist, or I could try a half moon mani with brights, but those really don't count.