The Role Of Colour In Influencing Mood

If you’re reading this in Australia, you’ve probably been in self isolation for around 2 weeks. During this time as we’ve seen restrictions slowly increase and our way of life change completely I’ve started to notice something. Something I’ve always noticed about myself I guess but now it is really magnified. I am really affected by colour. When it rains and the sky is grey all I want to do is hang in bed, read a book and sleep. This is nothing new you might be thinking, and hey I’m a makeup artist so I love to play with colour. But with 2 young kids, add homeschooling in the mix and chilling all day is impossible.

Then the other day we decided to put up our girls colouring and artworks on the walls of our dining area (we moved recently and haven’t had time to shop for art). Immediately I felt my energy and mood lift when looking at the garish rainbow that now occupied the once grey and blank space. So I tried another experiment, another rainy day I put on my brightest red jumper and similarly felt my mood start to lift.

For a number of years now I’ve volunteered with Look Good Feel Better in their workshop programs helping women and teens going through cancer treatment to feel better and more like themselves by learning about makeup and headwear. Something we always stress the importance of is putting some colour on your face when you are feeling unwell to lift your confidence and mood. A favourite red lipstick or pink blush truly is remarkable in how it can make you feel.

I put my own makeup on today for the first time in 2 weeks and felt more like myself again. Despite being a makeup artist, I don’t usually apply my own makeup every day but the vast majority of the week I wear at least foundation, mascara and blush, so it was strange but good to have some on again. On the plus side, not wearing any has improved the condition of my skin and I have a lot less blemishes!

So what do you think? Do you get affected by the weather and if so does colour help? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’m looking to run some workshops on Zoom over the next 3 weeks while my kids are on school holidays (yay for school finishing a week early allowing me to get back to doing some work) and would love to hear from anyone interested to take part and what you’d like to learn about. I thought grooming your brows (now the beauty salons are closed) might be a good place to start or my five minute makeup routine for those working from home who still want to look half decent but with minimal fuss.