±What colour? P Y N
§PART 1
First things first, all the brilliant pictures for this post are from the wonderful website Humanae by Artist Angélica Dass. I urge you to go visit her site! For many reasons I was blown away when I first came across it, each portrait ceases to fascinate me. Angélica Dass has used the colour chart of Pantone to match her models pigmentation and applied it as the back drop for each photograph. Pantone is a standardised colour matching system, each colour is represented by letters and numbers (code) so they can be recreated in any format, for use in media and design - you know those bright coloured mugs and socks with letters and numbers (code), well that’s the Pantone colour system. Determining someones tone is not an exact science but hopefully I can use less words because of the ‘God send’ of these humanae images.
As you may have read in my previous ‘face too face’ posts I describe my models complexion as either Pink; Yellow or Neutral. You may have heard of these terms before but if not; you may be thinking, “what is she on about?” In the beauty industry from Make-up Artists to cosmetic companies alike we all divide complexions into less or more categories, also a lot of us use different words to describe the base colour of foundations, it’s a minefield out there...one wrong step and it could be disaster! Maybe you’ve been there? I definitely have.
So, when I look at my models to assess which colour foundation to use I have to decide what their under-colour is; then, how light or dark they are. With out contradicting myself and running the risk of confusing you I’m going to add that I don’t think there is a person who is ‘actually’ pink or yellow or neutral but for me; these adjectives are a good starting point in choosing the correct foundation.
We are all individuals, and to my knowledge no company has made enough foundations to match the worlds population and though that may be an impossible and expensive task, some are giving it a good go by really broadening their range, Cover FX; MAC; YSL; Lancome; NARS; IMAN; Laura Mercier to name but a few.
Over the next few weeks I’m going to attempt to explain how Pink; Yellow; Neutral help me - and hopefully will assist you - when selecting a foundation. For this week I’d like you to have a good look at all the pictures and their background colour and see if you agree with my categorisations. In danger of sounding like a broken record...Determining someones tone is not an exact science.
§Coming up next week I will focus on Pink undertones...
