Accessories to Look Effortlessly Radiant This Winter

by Stephanie Coughlan, Founder & CEO

As we approach the middle of winter and less activity outside, accessories around our face are an easy way to complement our eye, hair color and skin tone. Since many of us spend time outside with family and friends, in cold and warm climates, and our faces are usually covered by a mask, sometimes the only parts of us that are actually noticed are our ears, eyes, and necks!

Recently, on a January night, with the temperature hovering around 37℉, my husband and I decided we needed a social outing with two friends around their firepit (clearly not a new experience this year but a worthy one!) While I put on a royal blue velvet dress, purple Timberland boots, and a vintage white fur coat, it was my multi-colored beaded chandelier earrings that were most noticed. The colors in the beads were blue, pink, and a multitude of complementary colors, setting off my eye color. They were all I really needed to shine in the ever-shifting darkness and light of a fire.

The various colors in your eyes provide guidance for the best colors to wear near your face. Use your natural palette to determine colors for blouses, jackets, necklaces, scarves, earrings, eye makeup, blush, and lips. Repeating these colors will draw the attention to eyes and face, making them the focal point of your style. You will notice that your friends and colleague will make more eye contact with you more frequently and for longer periods of time. Below, I’ve broken down how I use natural palettes to advise my clients on their best colors.

Eyes – They speak volumes about our mood and emotions

Photo by Evan Wise on Unsplash.

Since many of us are spending a lot of time outside these days, in darkness and light, while wearing a mask, one of the only ways to show emotion is through our eyes. I was recently at a very small birthday party and there were many reasons to celebrate, and although we couldn’t see smiles, we could hear each other laugh and see each other’s eyes. Most of the women at the party were wearing eye makeup to dress up their eyes for our host, the beautiful birthday girl. But what I noticed was how much their eyes communicated their excitement and enthusiasm for the celebration.

Using color around your face and eyes is so simple! The easiest way to determine what colors flatter around your face is to look at a color wheel. One route you can take is looking for opposite colors, which will highlight your eyes and face. If you have green eyes, the opposite to that color is purple. If you have blue eyes, the opposite color is the red family. And so on… Blue-eyed people often avoid stronger lip colors because they want the attention to stay on their eyes, but the contrast of a dramatic lip color will make eyes pop. Green eyes can be intensified by reds, too, which emphasize the golden tones in their eyes. Brown eyes also look more golden when wearing plum shades.

Color and our skin tones

Wearing a color that is opposite of your skin tone will give you a vibrant, radiant glow. Those with warmer skin tones will have their look intensified by adding shades of turquoise, aqua, and teal. On the other hand, pinks, reds, and oranges will intensify cooler skin tones. These colors can be worn near our face alone or can add energy to a neutral outfit. They’ll also help you get noticed during these darker winter nights.

Accessories and face shapes

Many members of our Image Intelligence community have asked me about what accessories work for different face shapes. So below are several recommendations for various face shapes:

Round: Think long shapes that don’t add width to a full face.
Long and angular: Wear medium to large earrings to help increase the width of the face.
Square: Wear midsize round and pointed earrings that give balance but don’t exaggerate the width of the face.
Pear-shaped face: Add width with button-shaped earrings.
Oval: This shape face can master almost any earring or necklace silhouette.
Heart-shaped: Choose chunkier earrings and necklaces that add width to the bottom of your face.

As you look towards Valentine’s and/or Galentine’s Day, think about your accessories and how they can add some dazzle to your face: it’ll be the focal point of almost any outfit as long as we’re wearing masks! These are some of our jewelry favorite finds to add some brilliance. And, look out for some special posts coming up on our IG feed with Ray Griffiths Fine Jewelry and JLK Designs to prepare us for the month of love, cupids and friendship!