Beauty

How To Match Your Makeup To Your Aura

According to intuitive stylist Susanna Merrick and color therapist Walaa.

With ’90s style frosty blue eyeshadow and neon eyeliner trending, many of us are exploring how we can add more bright colors to our makeup palette. But what if the color you choose for your eyeliner or lipstick could elevate or shift your energy? It would certainly be a compelling reason to experiment with a makeup shade you haven’t tried before. That’s what Susanna Merrick, the intuitive stylist behind Aura Wear NYC believes.

Merrick uses her intuitive gifts to help style and dress the energy of her clients. This, she says, expands beyond clothing into makeup, as well. “You can have every color in your aura but there are colors that are close to your soul, your heart, and they are important to in a particular season of your life,” she says. “We’ve been in a minimalist moment in fashion and beauty that we’re now coming out of and people just want to feel more creative.”

While Merrick does one-on-one readings, she’s also created archetypes on Instagram to help people navigate which color they should gravitate to at different points of their lives. Orange, for example, is about “taking positive risks” and “creative problem solving”, she says. Something you should put on if you’re feeling insecure or wanting to find yourself. Green, Merrick says, is the color you might be drawn to when you’re in a growth mindset, working on manifesting goals and creating wealth. Yes, Please!

Merrick says she’s noticed a general shift towards people feeling comfortable wearing more bold colors in recent years. This is key, because the right colors to elevate our energy have to be ones you feel good wearing. “I think we’ve evolved and we don't do makeup for other people anymore,” says Merrick “We don’t listen to what colors make blue eyes pop or what colors go with what hair,” she adds. “Now we’re spending a little extra time to put on blue eyeshadow.” Ideally, just because we like it. Merrick thinks this is also partially due to craving social connection. Makeup can be conversational– just think of how many compliments you get when you try something new and eye-catching.

Intuitive color healer Walaa, author of the book Heal Yourself With Color: Harness the Power of Color to Change Your Life, says her clients usually start with wearing black and grey, with minimal makeup color, and then realize the power of wearing colors and become more experimental. “Whenever you’re putting a color on your face or nails, you’re telling yourself the energy you’re aligned with today,” she explains. “If we’re having a bad day we gravitate towards wearing darker colors and black because we want to hide. But what if instead we wear white or something bright that will help uplift us?”

Walaa says yellow eyeliner can help tell your subconscious mind to be more analytical today, while pink eyeshadow could tell your nervous system to calm down and tune into love, compassion, and kindness. She recommends wearing red lipstick to gain energy, vitality, and strength. Turquoise is a shade to wear when you’re looking for your purpose.

To start using colors more strategically, Walaa says to begin slowly. “Start with maybe a lipstick or blush and a little bit of eyeliner with some extra color,” she recommends, “You can start with makeup and accessories, then move to clothing.” Follow the colors that intuitively call to you, she says, “The ones that excite you, not what magazines are telling you to like”. While it’s synergistic that bright colors are currently trending, choosing makeup that best suits your aura and energy, means throwing out every rule you’ve ever heard and not feeling pressured by trends. After all, makeup is more fun when it’s for you. Keep an eye out for the next time you’re feeling pulled towards an eyeshadow palette– it just might be your intuition telling you something.