Maybe the big day is coming- the day you move, switch schools or start your new job. Maybe the new school year is coming, and you want to begin again, show everyone the new you. Or maybe you're just bored. Either way, changing up how you look is a great way to look the way you feel- so check out my research-backed tips below.

Makeup

Image Credit: Andriyko Podilnyk from Unsplash

Note: it is always best to involve personal color analysis. I recommend looking at the Clothes and Accessories section if you are not familiar.

Eyes

• For blue eyes: try copper, brown, gold, or peach eyeshadow. Warm tones, pinks, and neutrals are best.
• For green eyes: try purples, plums, and metallics.
• For brown eyes: try brown smokey eyes, blues, purples, and golds. Black eyeshadow looks amazing on you too! Faux freckles can also bring out brown eyes with tan skin.
• For hazel eyes: try pinks, reds, or any shade of green. Color mascara looks great too!
• For gray eyes: try gray, purple, cool/deep blue, and black eyeshadow. Bronze and beige also work. Try rusty or brown eyeliner.
• To draw attention to the eyes: my favorite trick is to find the opposite color on the color wheel from your eyes. Take a (tiny!!) amount of eyeshadow in that color and place it in the corner of your eye as well as the outermost edge, bottom, and top. You can also place eyeliner in the corner, top, bottom, and outer edge of your eye without fully tracing your eye shape.
• To make siren eyes: try eyeliner wings, cat eyes, and false lashes.
• To make your eyes look larger: try white liner on the bottom, curled lashes, volumizing mascara, and highlight your inner corners.

Lips

Choosing a lip shade has more to do with your personal analysis than anything else, but here are some tips and tricks I’ve learned!

1. Outline your lips with a dark color, then apply lighter lip gloss
2. For a natural look, fill in your lips fully with a very similar shade of lipliner
3. To make your lips look smaller: outline your lips with a slightly darker color
4. To make your lips plumper: try hyaluronic acid, lip plumper gloss, or overlining lips
5. To make your lower lip look bigger: overline your bottom lip
6. To make your lips look wider: overline the sides of your lip

Face

• For color-correcting, peach/orange negates dark circles, green negates redness, yellow evens your skin and purple negates yellowish tones. Then apply foundation over it.
• For acne, concealers can’t necessarily hide whiteheads, but they CAN cover redness and bumps.

For foundation:

1. Tinted moisturizers work for unproblematic skin
2. Full coverage is better for ruddiness and spotted skin
3. Primer (of the same base as your foundation) erases pores
4. Dewy means glowy/shiny, and matte means the opposite.

There are TONS of ways to apply contour depending on your face shape. Bronzer, unlike contour, looks less natural but gives you a sun-kissed look.

Blush looks best when it matches the color of your lips. You can achieve this by purchasing a similar blush shade or by using your lip product as a blush. Blush can also be applied to the nose to give the illusion of being cold, and a (tiny!!!) amount of blush on the forehead or chin can balance out a large amount on your cheek. You can set your makeup using powder or setting spray.

Take the Quiz: What skin type are you?

Take this quiz to learn what kind of skin you have so you can choose the products right for you!

Skin

Image Credit: Kalos Skincare from Unsplash

Skincare

Finding Your Skin Type:

Dry

- Often seems ruddy

- Is often flakey

- Skin seems itchy and tight

What to do: use moisturizer often, and slug daily. Reduce exposure to heat.

Combination

-Dry on cheeks

-Oily on T-zone (nose, chin, and forehead)

What to do: use toner, avoid bar soap, and use face masks and moisturizer often.

Oily

-Often seems shiny

-Often breaking out

What to do: avoid products with oil in them, pin back bangs, and avoid touching your face. Use lightweight moisturizer but do not skip it completely, and use blotting paper.

Normal

-None of the above!!

What to do: no special tips, but establish a skincare routine that works for you and find treatment for the occasional pimple.

Skincare tips/routines:

• Cerave, Ordinary, and Cetaphil are 3 of the best drugstore skincare brands.
• Avoid unnecessary retinol and vitamin C as they can cause damage to the skin barrier.
• Use SPF daily on your face and neck!
• Try a Korean skincare routine:

1. Oil cleanse
2. Use a water-based cleanser
3. Exfoliate
4. Use toner/rice water
5. Use essence
6. Use serum
7. Use moisturizer and eye cream
8. Put on a sheet mask

Important Things To Know For Your Skin:

• Rice water is incredible for making your skin glow.
• Drink water daily!!
• Expensive does not mean effective.
• Slugging, or covering your face with petroleum jelly daily before bed, is super helpful (do it only twice a week if your skin is oily.)
• Prep with exfoliant and oil before shaving.

Find a signature scent and wear deodorant. Essential oils and EDT are good for lighter scents, while perfume and EDT can be stronger.

Hair

Image Credit: Ali Pazani from Unsplash

If you don’t know your face shape, take the quiz below.

https://faceshapesdetector.com/

Eyebrows

• If your face is angular, try rounder brows. If your face is round, try angular brows.
• Arches look better on softer, rounder faces.
• Straight and softly curved brows look better on longer faces.
• S-shaped brows look better on heart-shaped faces.
• Oval-shaped faces should try a soft arch.

To draw eyebrows:

1. Your eyebrow should start directly above the corner of your eye.
2. Draw an imaginary line from the edge of your nose to your pupil. This is where the arch should peak.
3. Draw an imaginary line from the edge of your nose to your brow bone. This is where your brow should end.
4. To get eyebrows done, try tweezing, waxing, or facial razors.

Lashes

You can lengthen lashes naturally by using serum (but check the side effects!), several types of oils, and petroleum jelly. You can also get lash lifts, extensions, or false lashes to create the illusion of larger lashes.

Haircuts/styles

• Oval-shaped faces should try: lobs, half-up styles, waves, pixie cuts, and wispy bangs.
• Round faces should try: long layers, side-swept bangs, pixie cuts, and bobs.
• Square faces should try: layers, soft waves, side-swept bangs, shaggy pixies, and angled/textured bobs. Avoid blunt cuts.
• Heart-shaped faces should try: long, face-framing layers/bangs, curls and waves, and side parts. Avoid short bangs.
• Bangs are also great for accentuating eyes!

Haircare

Hair care deeply depends on hair type. Take the quiz below to find a result.

https://www.wikihow.com/Hair-Type-Quiz

If your hair is type 3 or 4, or even type 2, your hair may be wavy/curly and likely has less moisture. You need a special hair routine. Try a leave-in conditioner, curl cream, and hair gel. Avoid products that may be drying or irritating.

Recommended hair care tips:

• Rosemary oil is spectacular at growing hair! Apply to the scalp daily for best results.
• Rice water can grow hair, as well as increase the shine and overall health of your hair. Put in 20 minutes before shower for best results.
• Coconut oil is a staple of many Indian households. It can be applied during an oil massage and should be left overnight for best results.
• Protective hairstyles like braids should be left in overnight to grow hair.
• Scalp massaging makes hair healthier and longer.

Your Guide to Salon Treatments:

- Keratin Treatments create unreal-looking shine and pin-straight hair, but some have reported it to be damaging.

-Recoloring/highlighting is a very popular and generally safe option, but remember that bleach damages hair and can fry curls. Always get a consult, and try a temporary option before making it permanent.

-Permanent Waves (perms) last for 3-6 months and CAN be safe, but can cause health issues, so be sure to get a consult.

Clothes & Accessories

Image Credit: Nick De Partee from Unsplash

Personal Color Analysis

As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, colors that look good on other people may not look so good on you. The good news is- it also goes vice versa! Below is a quick guide to finding your personal color palette.

This is especially important for tops. Look at the veins on your wrist. If they’re green-blue, you have warm undertones. If they’re blue or purple, your undertones are cool.

Then, look at the contrast between your features. If your hair and eyes are significantly darker than your skin, you have high contrast. If the colors are similar, you have low contrast.

Figure out your chroma:

• Warm+light or cool+dark = bright
• Warm+dark or cool+light= muted

-Winters have high contrast, cool undertones, and bright chroma.

You can access their color palette here: https://yourcolorguru.com/are-you-a-winter-seasonal-type/

- Springs have moderate/ light contrast, warm undertones, and muted chroma.

You can access their palette here: https://www.kettlewellcolours.co.uk/seasonal-blog/2018/the-seasonal-sub-types-spring

- Autumns have light contrast, warm undertones, and bright chroma.

You can access their palette here: https://www.kettlewellcolours.co.uk/find-your-colours/blog/autumn-explaining-the-different-types

-Summers have moderate contrast, cool undertones, and muted chroma.

You can access their palette here: https://www.kettlewellcolours.co.uk/find-your-colours/blog/summer-explaining-the-different-types

Each of these has 4 subcategories.

1. Pure: looks best in the clearest and most vivid colors
2. Tinted: looks best in lighter colors
3. Toned: looks best in bright, saturated colors
4. Shaded: looks best in softer colors

For extra help figuring out which one you are, try the eye test or visit https://stylewithdc.com/blogs/blog/the-16-season-color-analysis-system-a-comprehensive-guide?srsltid=AfmBOoq4rB0TtsxxTmz7N-ZYJZWXMXLyfvUHpNCQN6EPjLA7I-vKwmZo

Body Type and Clothing

Measure your bust, waist, and hips.

Pears have larger hips than busts or waists.

• Wear skirts with high waists, fit and flare dresses, flared pants, necklaces, and embellished/fitted tops
• Don’t wear tight pants, boxy dresses, or low-rise pants.

Apples tend to have bigger busts and waists.

• Wear A-line dresses, V-necks, high-waist pants, flares, and long jackets.
• Avoid tight tops, horizontal stripes, and tight mini-skirts.

Hourglasses have equal-sized busts and hips, and small waists.

• Wear fitted clothing, pencil skirts, and V-necks.
• Avoid baggy or loose clothing.
• Rectangles tend to have very similar measurements for all 3.
• Wear collars, puff sleeves, layers, V-necks, high-waisted pants, and embellished tops.
• Avoid loose or oversized clothing.

How to hide insecurities:

• To seem thinner or taller, wear vertical stripes or layers.
• To draw attention to hips, wear flares.
• To draw attention to the bust, wear more detailed tops.

Patterns

• If you have high-contrast features: wear high-contrast patterns.
• If you have low-contrast features: wear low-contrast patterns.
• If you are a smaller person: wear smaller patterns.
• If you are a larger person: wear larger patterns.
• If you have angular features: you can intensify this look with geometric patterns, or soften it with more organic patterns. The same goes for softer features.
• If you have average angular features, go for more average patterns.

Health

• Develop a workout plan. Keep balance and stick to it! Remember, the point is to be healthy, not to lose or gain weight.
• Drink lots of water. 4 to 12 glasses a day is the ideal range.
• Eat healthier. Junk food a couple of times a week is perfectly fine, but try to make sure around 80% of your food has nutritional value.
• Try yoga, pilates, or dance to center yourself and stay calm.
• Image Credit: Bruce Mars from Unsplash
• Start a journal! This doesn’t affect how you look, but it DOES affect how you feel, which is much more important.
• Remember that you are so much more than your body.

Conclusion

Makeup and fashion should always be fun and never put unnecessary pressure on you. Remember that trends change, and all of the ideas in this article are just that: ideas. If you prefer a different look, that's totally fine. Above all else, the biggest thing to remember for any makeover is to stay true to yourself!