1) The document provides guidance on how to choose makeup products based on skin tone and type. It emphasizes finding your skin tone and type (dry, oily, or combination) before choosing foundation, eye shadows, eyeliner, blush, and lip products. 2) Color selection is important - lighter colors for fair skin, medium tones for medium skin, and darker colors for dark skin. Products shouldn't be too light or dark for your complexion. 3) Makeup application is a skill, and using the wrong products or colors can make someone feel less confident. With education on proper application based on skin, makeup can empower women.

1. Stansel 1
Taylor Stansel
Ms. Bennett
British Lit.
7 October 2011
How to Choose Your Makeup
Have you ever been in the Makeup aisle at the store, having no idea what products you should
buy? A recent study shows that 67% of women buy makeup that does not correspond with their skin
tone and are unaware of it. Most women in today’s society buy makeup that is what is in style at the
time and do not try to make sure it is what looks good on them. Every person in the world has a
different skin tone and skin type, which is why there are so many different types of makeup in the
world. The term makeup is defined to be a way to improve or change appearances. Makeup is one of
the few things in the world that has been around since the beginning of time to enhance beauty
(“Choose your make-up”). Make-up is used to make women’s self-esteem higher that it would be if
they were not wearing any make-up. It is proven that make-up is one of the main beauty products that a
woman can use to make her feel that she looks more beautiful than she did before. Many people,
however, do not approve of make-up because some products are oil based and can be harmful to skin
(Cossham). A woman has to be educated on what kind of make-up she should buy for her skin.

2. Stansel 2
How does a woman find the perfect foundation for herself? The first and most important step to
picking the right foundation for women to know what their skin tone and skin type is (“How to choose
make-up…”). How does a woman know what her skin type is? How a woman finds her skin type is by
looking at her face and seeing if she has oily or dry skin (“choose your make-up”). After she has
figured out if her skin is oily or dry then she needs to know what her skin tone is. Skin tone is basically
the color of a person’s skin. After a woman finds out her skin tone and skin type how does she know
what type of foundation she is supposed to buy? If a woman has dry skin then she should use liquid
foundation so it can put moisture back into her skin; if she has oily skin she needs to use oil-free
foundation or powder foundation so she does not add more unneeded moisture back into her skin; if she
is a combination of both oily and dry sin then she should apply very light amounts of powder
foundation to her skin (“How to choose make-up…”). Most women use the type of foundation that is
wrong for their skin. How does a woman know if she is using the foundation that is wrong for her? If
she puts on liquid foundation and her skin looks to oily after she is done applying her make-up then she
has used the wrong type of foundation. The same goes for someone who has dry skin; if she puts on
powder and it looks unnatural, it is the wrong type. Foundation is supposed to look natural on skin
(“How to choose make-up…”).
After foundation is applied most women apply eye shadow next. One rule that most people
ignore when applying eye shadow is that a woman should never match her eye shadow to the outfit that
she is wearing (“The best eye shadow…”). Eye shadow is used to enhance a woman's eyes and make
her eyes stand out; to do this a woman should only use eye shadows that compliment her eye color.

3. Stansel 3
How does someone know what colors are right for them? The woman needs to go back and figure out
what her skin tone is again. If she is fair-skinned she should only use light colors on their eyes, because
if she uses darker colors on her eyes her make-up will look too dark for her face, if she is medium-
skinned she can use more earthy tones on her eyes to make them pop, and if she is dark-skinned then
she should use dark colors to accent her eyes because lighter colors have the tendency to not show up
as well if a woman has darker skin (“The best eye shadow..”). Women will often use colors that
complement the color of their eyes but the colors are either too dark or too light for their skin tones.
When a woman has learned what does and does not go with her skin tone and eye color, she will never
have a problem doing her eye shadow.
Most women in the world use the black eyeliner and black mascara on their eyes. Sadly, women
cannot use only black eye makeup on their eyes (“choose your make-up”). Why? Because some women
have skin that is too fair to be able to pull off black eye make-up. How does a woman know if she is
too fair-skinned to pull off black eye make-up? If a woman is fair-skinned she should use brown
eyeliners and mascaras for her eyes, since she is fair-skinned she should do her make-up with a natural
look so her make-up does not look too dark on her (“choose your make-up”). If a woman is medium-
skinned then she should use lighter blacks or grays for her eyeliner and mascara because brown
eyeliner wouldn’t show up as well and black might be too dark for her face, depending on what type of
medium skin tone she is (choose your make-up). If she is dark-skinned, she should most definitely use

4. Stansel 4
Black mascara and eye liner because the lighter mascaras and eye liners will not show up as much as
the black will (“choose your make-up”).
Why is blush so important to wear with make-up? Foundation has the tendency to wash out the
face and make it paler than the color it is supposed to be (“how to choose the right...”). Blush is a
product that is used to add color back to the face that has been lost while applying foundation. Since
most people are not that familiar with this product they do not use it as much, and without blush some
people might look too washed out compared to the rest of their bodies. Blush is just like any other
make-up product; a woman has to apply the shade of blush that corresponds to her skin tone (“how to
choose the right...”). If she is light-skinned, she should use light pinks or peachy colors for her blush
because if she uses darker colors like plum or dark peach then her cheeks would be too dark for the rest
of her face and would not look right (“how to choose the right...”). If she is medium-skinned, she
should use brighter pinks and darker peach colors because if she uses a color that is too dark then her
face will look too dark, (“how to choose the right...”). If she is dark-skinned she should use plum, red,
or dark pink colors because if she uses lighter colors they might not show up as much as the darker
blushes and in some cases, the light blushes might not even show up at all and her cheeks would look
too light for the rest of her face (“how to choose the right..”). Blush is the one product that can make
someone’s make-up look good or bad depending on how a person applies it.

5. Stansel 5
The last thing a woman should worry about when applying make-up is the color she uses on her
lips. Women have the tendency to base what they use on their lips on what they are wearing. That
procedure is not completely wrong; a woman should base what kind of lip products she uses on how
she is dressing and where she is going, but not off of her whole outfit (“choose your make-up”). How
does a woman know what lip products are appropriate for what outfit? If she is going to a place where
she is going to dress casually, she should use a very sheer light or nude lip stain because if she uses a
darker lip stain than her make-up would look too dressed up for her outfit. If she is going to work and
her workplace is professional she should use a lip stain that looks good on her skin tone because a
woman should want her make-up to look professional and she should make sure to wear a lip stain
because lip gloss can look too young for a career but a lip stain looks older and more responsible if
applied correctly. If she is going to an event that is dressier she should use a red or slightly darker than
nude lip stain with lip gloss lightly placed over because she wants her lips to pop and look dressed up
(“choose your make-up”). The lips are where last makeup products are applied when someone is
finished with their makeup; the lips are also the one part of the face that pulls the whole outfits together
when it is completed.
In conclusion, make-up is the building block for confidence. Make-up can also tear down a
woman’s confidence. How can it do that? If a woman does not know how to properly apply her make-
up then it will not look right and she will not feel as good about herself as she should after putting it on.
Though some people oppose to the use of makeup and think that all women should not wear any, it is
still one of the best inventions ever made, because it helps women everywhere around the world every
single day. Sadly, though, many people are not properly educated on the proper use of application, but
makeup application is something that is teachable.