The Color Wheel

Ever wonder why the christmas colours red and green work so well together?

Hello fellow future makeup artists. One of the most important concepts in makeup is the colour wheel. A great understanding of this can enhance your makeup skill. The colour wheel consists of three primary colours: red, yellow, and blue.


These colours cannot be created they are pure. When primary colours are mixed they create secondary colours. They are: orange, green, and purple.
When primary colours and secondary colours are mixed they create tertiary colours: Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green and yellow-green.

To create more colours you can use other techniques. Shades are a variation of the original colour by adding black to make it darker, a tone is formed when gray is added, and a tint is created with the addition of white.

Colours work together in different ways. A group of colours can be referred to as analogous, or complementary. Analogous refers to any three colours side by side. Complementary are any two colours directly opposite in the colour wheel, and hence the reason red and green work so well together.