A few days back, Dorit had written about Pantone Color of the Year 2019: Living Coral. I love the color and the message behind it, so I wanted to share a bit of my take on it. Oh the optimism, the joy, and the nudge towards sustainability (hints at Living in the Coral)
PANTONE 16-1546 Living Coral – an animating and life-affirming coral hue with a golden undertone that energizes and enlivens with a softer edge. Sociable and spirited, the engaging nature of Living Coral welcomes and encourages lighthearted activity. Symbolizing our innate need for optimism and joyful pursuits, Living Coral embodies our desire for playful expression.
Such a dreamy image… I can imagine the sand on my feet, the blue, the smell of the ocean, and the warmth of the sun on my skin!
Now, beauty-wise, I know coral can get tricky to wear for my skin tone (medium dark, warm, nc42/44, 330 on Fenty Beauty). The wrong shade or finish could easily make it look not-so-flattering (happens so many times that I almost gave up looking). So if you’re in a similar situation or wanted to get my tips on coral makeup for the darker skintones, keep reading!
1. Look For Semi-Transparent Corals
These colors tend to be on the lighter side, so sometimes at full coverage, they could come across garish for having some white tones. Or chalky when worn on the cheeks. Try it out on your lips and cheek when possible (remember to sanitize!). This is the kind of colors I really could not trust most online swatches, especially because it tends to look great on lighter skin tones, yet translated very differently on me, and not in a flattering way.
Semi-transparent finish means it adapts better to your skin tone, has less white-tone in it, and as a bonus (especially if it’s a lip color), it is usually very moisturizing. My current favorite for this category is Charlotte Tilbury’s Superstar Lips in Happy Lips, although the color really doesn’t look like the model swatch on me.
Really subtle color, right? But it’s also so easy to wear that I would just keep it on my jacket pocket as a (glorified) my-lips-but-better lip balm.
2. Experiment with the shade of Corals
Corals tend to sway between pink and orange hues. If you are looking a bit off with pinky corals, try the orangey corals. Experiment with red corals. If orange/peachy tones look good on you, then warm corals would look amazing.
Sometimes adding some glitters are also a wonderful thing, like the limited edition MAC Lipstick Where No Man Has Gone from the Star Trek collection.
Some wisdom if we have similar skin tone: go for orange corals, red corals, if you would like to try out pinky corals, take a darker pink shade.
3. Look in Your Stash
Since coral is one of the most popular colors for makeup, the makeup junkie among us would have a version of it already. If you have a coral lipstick you like but it’s not orange enough to fit the living coral description, then combine it with an orange-toned/peachy lip gloss (with some glitters!). Anyhow coral is a mix of orange and pink, and the living coral color does say something about golden flecks!
