Pink

As a child, pink was an emotive colour, going through phases of loving it and hating it with equal measure depending on when you asked, what the specific shade in question was and my peer group at the time.  From the amazing pink and grey anorak of my early teens to the pastel pink jumper knitted by my Mum and proudly worn until its demise through my mid-teens. I’ve always secretly if not openly, enjoyed pink – but not fuchsia!

The Colour of Love, pink is also associated with femininity, ranging from pastel to hot pink and coral to magenta, there is a pink for everyone and I would hazard a guess that if asked to visualise the colour pink, each individual would immediately picture the colour relating to their Marmite moment, i.e. the one they either love or hate.

My ‘Winter’ son loved the magenta pink bowls and cups as a toddler but soon realised that favouring the blue would enable him to worship his older brother and create competition for attention. 

Barbie & Co have perpetuated the use of pink for girls (candy through fuchsia to magenta) to the extent that some girls don’t feel they can wear, nor choose, any other colour - especially blue - which might be a boy’s colour.

Borrowing our friend’s daughter's fuchsia wetsuit wasn’t a problem for me because it was clearly one of his 2-star colours! (and ever the pragmatist, was cheaper than buying one for a week’s worth of wear on a summer beach holiday!)  I know someone who responded to the question ‘What’s his name?' with ‘HER cousin is Oliver’ because the baby was wearing a blue hat! 

There does seem to be some evidence around the use of pink for boys and blue for girls in the early 1900s which shifted around the time of World War II. If you’re interested, the linked articles provide a fairly full account. 

·            Tickled Pink – delighted

·         In the Pink – to be in great condition, particularly health and emotions

·         Pretty in Pink

·         Pink Pound – relating to the spending power of the Gay community

As with any colour, men as well as women need to ensure they employ their best shade, in this case, of pinks: 

Your pinks range from:	Strong to:	Light / Bright
Spring (warm & clear)	Flamingo / Shocking Pink	Shell, Peach
Summer (cool & soft)	Deep Rose / Cyclamen	Pastel Rose / Pastel Pink /
Autumn (warm & soft)	Rosewood / Coral	Peach
Winter (cool & clear)	Magenta / Fuchsia	Ice Pink

  

Great Pinks for your Season	Soft	Clear
Warm	Autumn – L174, L303, L697, L709	Spring - L22, L30, L347, L611, L697, L709, L710
Cool	Summer - L17, L35, L61, L301, L 302, L495, L635, L686, L714, L718, L719	Winter  - L61, L62, L711, L712, L718

Essential holiday make-up

As the holiday season approaches, so too comes the ‘holiday shopping’ and all too often unnecessary purchases, excess baggage allowance and frustration of ‘no liquids over 100ml’ through security for your hand luggage.

All is not lost!

Firstly, your make-up bag doesn’t have to be as large as you might think.  Unless you particularly think you need to carry your full selection to the other side of the world, a minimal kit will suffice and still have you enhancing every outfit you take with you, or indeed purchase while you’re away.

The 5 essentials:

1. Foundation -  on holiday, I find it helps me look more awake than I might feel after a night out, always a good step towards feeling better!  A heavily tanned person may require a stronger shade than normal, although in my experience, this is rare.  Finding the right colour foundation to match your skin tone is better when done in natural light.  The colour needs to sit on your face (not your neck) and the colour needs to blend naturally with your neck colour, if you see a line and feel the need to blend it, your foundation is probably not the right colour.   Foundatoin provides an element of protection to your skin and there are different types to suit all lifestyles:  

Liquid foundation – provides a full and professional looking finish, a great look when you are going out for an evening. 

Dual-Foundation – wet and dry mineral foundation also comes in a handy compact; easily applied with a Kabuki brush it can be used to touch up after a long day (on holiday, at a wedding, on business) and used in combination with a liquid foundation or BB cream depending on your requirement.

BB-creams – a versatile product combining serum, moisturiser, primer and foundation in one.  Perfect for a natural look, providing skin protection and can be combined with translucent powder or dual-foundation for additional coverage.  Take advantage of our special offer on BB creams (June 2014) and get yourself set up for the summer.

 

2. Blusher – pick up and enhance the natural pink tones in your skin draws the attention out to your cheek bones and makes your face appear more defined and less pinched.  You’ll probably find you only need one colour to take you through the whole year because it’s your underlying natural pinks which are enhanced.

3. Lipstick – THE handbag essential!  Lipstick provides definition to the mouth and face and works it’s magic by making your eyes shine when you're wearing the right colour.  At HOC, we recommend 3 as a minimum, enabling you to have something to suit every possible outfit from your colour spectrum.  Of course, you are not limited to only three, but choosing 1 red, 1 pink, 1 plum, rust or coral, depending on your season, will provide maximum flexibility.

4. Eyeliner – using eyeliner (liquid or pencil) on the outside edge of your eyes makes them appear more defined and larger.  For holiday, you may choose a neutral eyeliner (black, grey, navy) or you may wish to include a bit more choice (green, plum, blue) – after all, eyeliners aren’t bulky!

5. Mascara – Mascara appears to lengthen the eyelashes, providing further definition for the eyes, a girl’s best friend!   While I have two colours (navy and brown) in my make-up kit, I find that most days I migrate to one colour – navy, as a summer, for my travel kit! 

And one for luck:

6. Eye-shadow - while not essential, limiting yourself to 1 or 2 highlighting shades for the eyelid and 2-3 accent colours (navy/grey/purple for cool or olive/brown for warm) can provide more elegance to your look when you go out to dinner in the evening and for the space of about 5 small eye shadows, you may prefer to invest in an eye shadow palette to provide everything you need for an easy time away.



For the activity holidaymakers, or the really light traveller, where there is less time or space for make-up, these 5(6) things can be limited to 3; Foundation, Blusher and Lipstick.  

....after all, you may well be wearing sunglasses most of the time!

Cool

Warm