Redhead Beauty Tips

Whether you're strawberry blonde or auburn, red hair is hot (just look at all the stars who recently went red, from Scarlet Johansson to Blake Lively). "Redheads are unique. It blows my mind that we're not considered by most cosmetic companies," says bicoastal makeup artist Lauren Gott, who's ginger-haired herself. A former model, Lauren's an expert on what makeup works on redheads. "Let me first explain the difficulty in simply recommending makeup shades that will flatter all redheads," she says. According to Lauren, there are four basic natural shades of red: strawberry blonde, copper, true red (which is more of a fiery orange), and auburn. "A purple red is not natural. Red hair is a highly recessive trait, but not racially specific. Most redheads have fair skin, but I have seen natural red hair on African-Americans as well. But one thing we cannot get around is freckles. It comes with the territory, regardless of race," Lauren explains. Here are Lauren's makeup recommendations according to eye color, hair hue, and skin tone:

Best Shades for Your Eye Color

• Green Eyes: pinks or plums (these have red undertones) 
• Blue Eyes: tawny gold based colors and peaches (these have orange undertones) 
• Brown Eyes: any color works on brown eyes
• Hazel Eyes: champagne, mauve colors, gold-flecked, and jewel-tone eyeshadow

Blush and Lip Color 

• Brick or toast lipsticks and blushes add a great deal of warmth to the redheaded complexion and bring out the natural depth of a redhead's skin tone.
• For blush, try golden corals and yellow- or gold-based reds, apricots and tawny peaches.
• For intense color, blue-based reds look best, and purple is spectacular.

Skin Tone: Warm or Cool?

Are your veins blue-purple (warm) or blue-green (cool)? A warm redhead should choose foundation or concealer with yellow- or peach-based shades. A cool redhead should choose foundation or concealer with neutral or a porcelain pink-base.

The Deal With Freckles

"Wearing copious amounts of foundation to even skin tone—often in the wrong color—is one of my biggest pet peeves," says Lauren. "Most redheads will notice a skin tone change between the summer and winter months. Foundation should change with the seasons as well." Freckles should be allowed to peak through your foundation. Most redheads have pink undertones in the skin which can appear ruddy. This can be cancelled out with yellow-based concealer or foundation.

In the summer, keep it sheer with tinted moisturizer in a slightly warmer shade to emphasize the color of your freckles. This shade should be somewhere between the color of your freckles and underlying skin tone. In the winter months, emphasize the underlying skin tone color and use thicker moisturizer and foundation. You can cancel out redness with yellow-based foundation and concealer.

Eye Brows and Lashes

Redheads should use a taupe or light auburn eyebrow pencil or eye shadow to fill in and shape the brows. On lashes, brown, copper, and eggplant mascara look great for more natural looks. Black mascara works for smokier, glamorous looks.