Dawn Boyer wears many hats, including teaching at ODU while working on her Ph.D. in education. She also runs her own consulting business, doing human resources consulting for small businesses that can’t afford to have HR on staff, including defense contracting companies. Dawn also helps people re-write their resumes more effectively. Another hat is doing business development for her husband’s company, Monster Clean.

With three teenage daughters in college, she is headed toward an empty next fairly soon. This coincides with attaining her PhD in one year’s time, so Dawn was interested in a makeover since she will be more in the public’s eye once she begins working on her own career full time. “I’ve put myself in last place for too long,” she said, “and I don’t know where to begin.”

Dawn confessed that she never wears makeup. I explained to her that when you have red hair, which is actually orange, the face always appears ultra pale, so redheads need a little more makeup than others. This paleness is due to a principle called “simultaneous contrast” which is performed by our eyes when we look at any given color.

Here’s what happens. Apparently, the eyes demand equilibrium, so when we look at a color, the eyes generate the opposite color on the color wheel. So when we look at orange, we throw the opposite color on the face, which is blue. Blue serves as an optical whitener and makes whites look whiter not only in the laundry, but also on the face. Now you know why Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore appear so pale. It’s their hair! Now you also know why blue is the favored background color for TV stations. It’s opposite orange and makes our eyes literally put a suntan on the faces of anchors.

And you know all those little springs of parsley, real or plastic, next to the meat in the grocery store? They are there for the same reason. Green is opposite red, so they make meat look redder and more appetizing.

It only took a tiny amount of foundation in the perfect color to smooth Dawn’s skin color. She immediately appeared ten years younger. Blusher “lifted” the face and made her look prettier and softer. Next came a little eye shadow in natural brown tones to give her eyes definition. Lipstick and blusher made her face pop.

However, even with the perfect makeup, once she put on the orange blouse, her husband’s favorite color for her, she paled out and disappeared into her clothing. Dawn’s emerald green blouse turned out to be one of her best colors, and it enabled her skin to look luminescent and youthful, unlike the orange blouse, which gave a harshness to her skin.

Dawn brought along several other blouses in an array of colors. Most of them harmonized with her hair but didn’t do a thing for her skin. Skin trumps hair color and eye color when it comes to color analysis. Dawn’s beautiful green eyes don’t get circles, the skin under her eyes does; and her hair doesn’t get furrows or splotchiness, her skin does.

Dawn’s long hair hadn’t been cut in months, and the ends were very stringy, so the overall appearance was unkempt. Her hair is very curly and she deemed it unmanageable, so she usually wore it pulled back tightly. Trimming the hair in the front so it framed her face gave her a preview of how her hair could look with a proper cut of two or three inches and a little straightening with a flat iron.

Dawn dresses casually for school, and most of her work is done from home, so her closet is filled with casual clothes. Nevertheless, I finished her look with a large pair of chunky hoops because her hair is long and full enough to support them. When you’re in business for yourself, you need to look like you mean business even in casual attire. Bold earrings convey authority, just as a man’s tie does.  

Image consultant Sandy Dumont has a passion for helping women discover how to bring out the best in themselves. She conducts corporation workshops as well as two-day Stiletto Camps for women who want to be truly transformed inside and out. Contact her at www.theimagearchitect.com.