Unbiased Reviews by Real People
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Unbiased Reviews by Real People
The Free Guide to A Perfect TenFeb 26, 2001 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Cosmetics
The Bottom Line Pay close attention to the coloring and how it matches with your makeup and skin.
First of all, I've just got to address the issue while it's fresh in my mind: I think that part of what you need to find out is the texture/strengthening factors of the polish, but that's pretty easy to decide on your own. So I'm going to mostly discuss choosing the perfect color for your look and lifestyle. I will touch on the other details, but this whole thing is mostly about hue. So get your highlighters ready, folks, because here's your free guide to the perfectly-polished digits. Let me remind everyone of the classic appeal of hard, smooth, glossy nails. They're just beautiful. After all, you never see super models with soft, bendy, brittle nails that are always falling apart. Those models have long, strong, calcium-rich, perfectly manicured claws. And that's the goal of most people. Unfortunately, a lot of your nail type depends on DNA, and there's not too much you can do about that. But you can try your best. There's another thing I must point out, which most people overlook because they're so darn busy these days. First of all, you use nail polish for the color, and not for its strengthening/lengthening effects. If you want healthy nails, get a fortifying base coat or top coat, or one of those Sally Hansen clear polishes. But normal old nail polish will not do the trick, so don't assume that your nail color will restore your nails to a state of radiant health (even if the bottle claims it will). Nail polish is for color, not for health. If you want health, get a clear treatment. It's just like eyeshadow -- eyeshadow was not created to improve the health of your eyelids -- it was created for color and color only. If you want healthy eyelids, get eye gel. Same goes for fingernails. Moving on now. As I said before, you really should not choose your polish based on all the "Healthy" claims the bottle makes. Forget about it. Choose based on color and color alone. Seriously. There are two things I need to say: black nail polish is UGLY unless you are Marylin Manson. Yes, it's ugly on everyone. Even at parties. No matter where you are, black nail polish is never, ever chic. Neither are little designs/pictures/blots of color and pattern on your nails. Keep it to one solid color, or, if you must, a glued-on rhinestone or two. Red nail polish is usually not appropriate during the day, and, like black nail polish, it will stain your nails unless you apply a base coat first. Stained nails are absolutely disgusting, so you should always put on a clear base coat, especially if your color is particularly wild or dark. Speaking of wild and dark, wild and dark are just plain ugly. If you want to look Gothic, do it in your clothes, not your fingernails. If you want to look ugly, you can at least spare your fingernails from the horror. Trendy colors are also disgusting on the nails. They look fine when they're your clothes (in moderation, of course), but on your nails, trendy colors are just wrong. It is not chic to wear lime green polish, even if it matches your car. Nor is it chic to wear electric blue polish, no matter how well it coordinates with your eyeshadow. Please, donate those colors to the local dumpster. With that said, I would like to say a bit about which colors do actually look flattering for the day. (By the way, all of these look absolutely beautiful in the night as well.) These are great colors: clear, taupe, nude, pale shimmery colors, white, light pink, buff, glossy pale peach, polish with a hint of sparkle, and so on. Very subtle and almost girly is key. Keep in mind that you are not trying to look like Britney Spears's clone...but also remember that light, clear, shimmery polishes do not have to be teeny-bopper to be feminine and chic. However, these colors will look horrendous if your nails and hands are ragged or badly cared for. It is important to file down your nails daily, clip them, get out the gunk, and round them with a buffer or an emery board. Don't grow them too long unless you want to look like a slut. Supposing you have dark coloring, or a deep tan. Great -- that's just beautiful. Soften up your look with corals. Coral colors perfectly blend beach-y and feminine. And may I add that African American skin looks gorgeous with a pale, glossy, baby blue polish? No, don't pile on the gold and silver polish, unless you want to look like a tacky disco queen. And may I add that nothing is more irresistable on an African American woman than a taupe, earthy nail polish color. Just beautiful. If you are very fair, pink is stunning on you -- very delicate, a la Cinderella. Keep in mind that this is not some bright, tawdry fuschia -- this is a pearly, very pale, lovely baby-girl pink. So delicate and lovely. NEVER ever make your nail polish the same shade as your lip color or eye color. Instead, make them complement one another -- nothing looks better. Here is a great site that shows a color wheel and will help you with your beauty and makeup choices: http://www.arnb.com/webdesign/chap7/cwheel/cwheel.htm Now, let us say that you have beautiful, rich deep African American skin. You choose, for your eyeshadow, the Blue-Green #1 (the darkest one). A good nail polish choice would be the Blue-Green #9 (lightest one). A lipstick idea would be one of the #9 colors in the inner ring -- perhaps a light, frosty, gloss. This equals a very beautiful, put-together look. Let's say you have a golden baked tan (that Hawaii trip paid off!) and you are doing your eyes with Orange #1. A great polish choice would be Orange #5 (check out that coral!). For lip stick, one of the #4 colors would be beautiful. So, in general, you must choose a family (that is the name of one of the color groups, such as "Orange" or "Blue-Green") that goes with your skin under-tone. To find your skin under-tone, check out a part of you that never gets a tan, such as the underside of your arm. See what color pigment is more apparent in your skin: pink or yellow. Every race has one of these colors, so look closely. If you have a pink tone, choose one of the families starting from the Red group, and moving counter-clockwise until Yellow-Green. Those families will best suit your skin. If you have a yellow tone, choose one of the other families on the right side of the wheel. Your eye shadow should be something like the #1 color in that family. Your nail color should be the highest-number color in the family. Then if you average the two numbers and find the number in between, that is the number that your lip color should be (but it can be from any family in your designated part of the wheel.) This ensures a perfectly coordinated look, and allows you to experiment a bit while still looking beautiful at all times. Sorry I digressed a little, but I hope my advice helps you pick your best coloring!  |
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