Before you put any makeup on your face, you need to figure out which shades will work best with your hair and face. Most of the time you can wear some version of the look you love as long as the shade works with your hair color and skin tone.

FAIR SKIN AND LIGHT HAIR

Cheeks: Choose brush colors that mirror your natural blush. Pale peaches and pinks flatter your skin tone beautifully. Apricots and mauves are slightly more intense colors and therefore a bit more dramatic, so they're perfect for dressy evenings.

Eyes: Fair complexion can wear basically any color eye shadow, as long as it's on the lighter end of the spectrum. Deck your lids with anything from pale green, powder blue, or light beige to lavender or pale pink. Keep eyeliner pale too, by simple using eyeshadow as liner along the top and bottom lash lines with a thin brush, then blur the line with your finger. Substitute black mascara for brown, which will look softer against your skin.

Lips: Make your lips stand out with beautiful color. Almost anything pastel goes. Try pinks, peaches, lavenders, and soft neutrals. All these colors are great choices to wear in the daytime. Bold reds and burgundies are fun to wear at night.

FAIR SKIN AND MEDIUM OR DARK HAIR

Cheeks: Add a natural-looking flush toy our cheeks with medium peach, pink, and mauve shades. Another option: if you are in the mood to create a sun-kissed glow, go for a shimmery pale golden bronze blush.

Eyes: Play up your medium or dark tresses with color that's not too light and not too dark, but in between. Try medium plum, purple, lavender, green, or blue eye shadows. If you want to line your eyes, use the same color shadow that you applied to your lids; an eyeliner in the same hue will also work. Use black mascara to coat upper and lower lashes.

Lips: Shade your lips with colors that fall between light and dark, just like the eye makeup, to complement both your pale skin and dark hair. Try reds, medium dark pinks, berries, deep corals, or pinkish browns.

OLIVE SKIN AND MEDIUM OR DARK HAIR

Cheeks: Go for fun, bright colors, which stand out more against your olive complexion, like plums, red-browns, and roses. Bronzes with a bit of shimmer also look pretty, since they make you look as if you have a golden tan.

Eyes: When it comes to shadows, you've got many options. For a subtle sunny look, browns a bit darker than your own skin and glimmery golds look great. Try greens, aquas, purples, or blues. To really make your eyes stand out, highlight your brow bone with shimmery off-white shadow. Your eyeliner should be charcoal, black, or navy; go for jet-black mascara.

Lips: Make your lips stand out against your olive skin with red shades, like brick and wine, or more natural hues, like yummy caramels and chocolate browns.

MEDIUM GOLDEN SKIN AND DARK OR MEDIUM HAIR

Cheeks: Pink, wine, and plum are your best shades to use to create a pretty flush.

Eyes: Use pale gray,slate blue, purple, or pink eye shadow on your eyelids- these colors will stand out against your skin tone and brighten up your eye area. If you want to accent the crease, use a shadow one shade darker than the eye shadow that is on your eyelids. Highlight the brow bone with an off-white shadow. The prettiest eyeliner look for you is black or gray, since it will make the whites of your eyes look even whiter. Top off your lashes with black mascara.

Lips: Pink is always pretty and the most natural-looking choice for golden skin, since that's the natural color of your lips. When you apply a pink shade, you're really just enhancing what is already there, plus it stands out beautifully against your skin tone. Other colors that will look pretty with your complexion are plums, reds, and mauves.

LIGHT BROWN SKIN AND DARK, MEDIUM, OR LIGHT HAIR

Cheeks: Orangey peach colors will work really well with your skin. Or, fake a golden tan with bronze and gold blushes.

Eyes: Define your eyes in a way that looks very natural with a brown eye shadow that's infused with shimmer. Or have a little more fun with color by decking lids with vibrant, sheer shades that look pretty against your light brown skin; try shimmery greens, blues, or purples. To emphasize your brow bone, highlight it with a light brown shimmery shadow that's a few shades lighter than your natural skin tone. Brush your upper and lower lash with black mascara.

Lips: Add shine to your lips with glosses in natural earth tones packed with gold flecks, like browns, caramels, brick reds, and corals. They will look pretty against your light brown skin.

DARK SKIN AND DARK HAIR

Cheeks: For a blush to stand out and create a pretty flush against your deep skin tone, try deep reddish shades, like rose, brick red, rust, and burgundy. Deep mauves will make your face look fresh and are a great option for daytime looks.

Eyes: To make your eyes look bright, choose an eye shadow that's one shade lighter than your skin tone and is packed with gold or silver shiny specs. Then use an even lighter shade of eye shadow to highlight your brow bone. For a more colorful look, coat your eyelids in deep purple or burgundy. Line upper and lower lash lines with dark colors like gray, brown, black, or dark purple that will stand out against your skin and make your eye shape look more defined. Deck lashes in black mascara.

Lips: Dark, juicy colors such as deep plums, reds, rich wines, and berries make your pout stand out beautifully against your darker complexion. Bright colors like red, orange, and fuchsia will look pretty for a night out.