calling all seriously pale people...

[madmomma]

How do you feel about being pale? I am virtually white, and am pondering whether the time has come to accept that I need a bit of colour to look my best. In the past I've always made the pale + interesting thing my 'look', but I'm finding it harder as I get older and more tired.

I am very lazy and I hate the feel of creams on my body, so fake tan feels like a major ballache to me. I can't use sunbeds cause I have loads of moles & I don't think a regular spray tan is realistic or affordable really.

I don't know what to do, + I'm wondering what other people do. Do you work with what is and just flaunt your whiteness? Take a moderate approach and just use a gradual facial tanner? Or commit to the upkeep of regular fake tanning?

I absolutely know that pale can be beautiful, but I'm finding I have to make more and more effort not to look ill + shattered.

Any thoughts?

[Nippysnippy]

Red lipstick.
Brighten you up no end.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I'm happy being pale - hate the look of fake tan and wouldn't dream of using a sunbed.

I've started using a Bare Minerals foundation set and I was v pleasantly surprised about how nice the 'Warmth' is on my face - it just sort of 'lifts' the look of the foundation, and makes me look almost alive, without looking made up or orange or anything.

[VelcroFanjo]

I am very fair. I used to use talc as a foundation as all others turn me orange! Be proud of your paleness. As nippy said red lipstick, a slightly orangy shade seems better for me, and always accent your eyes with liner and mascara. That's all I ever use, looks too "caked on" if I try to use anything else!

[yellowraincoat]

I am v pale and I like it. I wear red lipstick and a lot of eyeliner, or sometimes I just wear no make up.

Only thing I hate is my corned beef legs when it's cold :(

[madmomma]

totally with you nippy, but I'm self conscious about my teeth. They're not brown or anything, but nor are they white, and red lipstick is such an attention grabber. Maybe I need to get my teeth whitened and that'd make me look better pale.

Remus I've got that same set lurking at the back of my make up drawer - I'll dig it out & have another go with it.

Velcro I wear loads of eye make up & it does help, but I've got massive eyes, and I end up just looking like a pair of eyes on legs! Prob need a strong lip too, but then that seems like a lot of make up, suddenly.

[VelcroFanjo]

Ooh yellow I know what you mean about corned-beef skin. Hate showing my legs too! Mind you being fair I hate the summer too..give me spring and autumn all year and that would be fine with me

[VelcroFanjo]

I know it sounds odd but have you tried using a very dark eyebrow pencil? Can balance the eyes.

[KatieMiddIeton]

Blusher is your friend. It will give your face warmth and contours which can disappear when you're pale making you look flat and washed out.

[KatieMiddIeton]

Yy agree with Velcro. Get your eye brows professionally shaped and pencil them in (although I don't use a dark pencil because I have fair hair too).

[TheFrogs]

I'm pale too, if I dont wear makeup I look very ill. I'm not even sure now what colours suit me. The lightest foundation on me still looks odd. (actually, I look like a corpse).

If I use a bronzer I look like a drag queen because it doesn't match my neck however hard I try.

Cant win!

[itsalladirtylie]

I dont really see the problem with being pale, I like it and wear pale foundation (find lilly lollo quite good) to look even paler.

Do you really look ill madmomma, or is it just that other people often associate tanned with looking healthy, so pale is labelled as looking ill by default

[happylittlebear]

Hate, hate, hate being pale...am forever being told I look "tired" or asked if I am coming down with something whenever I'm not wearing any make up and was once accosted on the beach on the last day of my 2 week holiday in spain by a rep selling tours as "obviously you've just got here cos you're so pale...."
I think it confuses people that my hair is v dark too, it's as if they think I should have lovely olive skin but something's gone wrong...
I always use a good blusher to give my face a lift and a sweep of bronzer always helps.

[MarieFromStMoritz]

I would recommend a weekly spray tan.

My skin is not so much pale, as grey. I also have horrendous stretch marks. I have been wearing fake tan on and off for years, but it is a faff to apply and I can't be bothered most of the time.

So now once a week on a Friday night a lady comes to me and gives me an all-over spray tan. She brings all the stuff with her including a tent, so there is no mess. She is in and out in 12 minutes and when she leaves, I am a gorgeous sun-kissed brown

It covers up all my skin imperfections (including stretch marks) and I feel like a goddess. I have been doing this for nearly 3 months now, and it's changed my life - honestly. I would never let my DH see me naked before, now I don't mind as my skin looks lovely and also I feel slimmer with a tan.

It is quite expensive, the equivalent of GBP 34 (I am not in the UK so not sure how much it is there). So, I have given up takeaway coffees, lunches, biscuits and magazines to pay for it.

Oh, and the lady uses Aviva. Not sure if it is available in the UK. It does not smell and is one of a few tans where you literally can go out afterwards without washing off the guide colour.

[SayItIsntSo]

I am also super pale - also have fair eyebrows - I used to glow white but now I am glowing grey I fear. I used to avoid blusher but now am getting into it, also some contour powder - a mac eyeshadow! - as I used to look moonfaced in photos. I have a bit of a dilemma in that I have been buying summer dresses and skirts which will never look right with black opaques (or my blue legs!) and they remain unworn in my wardrobe as yet another summer has ended, but I have never got to grips with fake tan (I have a cupboard full of bottles of the stuff, soon to be pinched by my SIL I suspect!). It is a cycle of low body confidence and then not wanting to even try to faff with fake tan.

MariefromStMoritz your idea sounds rather wonderful! I wonder if I could have a light tan just once a fortnight. How dark do you have to go to disguise of stretchmarks?

[WhollyGhost]

You can get whitening strips if you want white teeth on the cheap - but if you love tea and red wine, like I do, it never lasts.

I find some blusher and tinted lip balm go a long way towards making me look healthy.

When I use tinted moisturiser I mix it with untinted as otherwise it looks awful, and I always apply it to my neck as well.

[loserface]

If I am feeling fancy I will use a gradual tan moisturiser all over to give me a bit of warmth, sometimes I just use it on the body parts that will be out the next day like my arms and face. I hate the proper fake tans cos they just make me look orange and not natural, the gradual moisturisers just give you a small boost of colour.
Also use a light shade of bronzer on my face and neck if I am looking particulay pale. Cream blusher on the apples of the cheeks is also good for the english rose look.

I think the most important thing is to find the colours that suit you and compliment your paleness, not make it drag you down.

I've tried all sorts of different hair colours but have found a warm light brown with highlights suits me most and gives a bit of natural colour to my face.


Don't be embarrassed of being pale, embrace it! I'd much rather be pale than look like some of those oranges you see walking round, it just doesn't look right

[WhollyGhost]

I use "transparent" fase powder as bronzer

definitely prefer being pale to resembling an Ooompa Loompa

[missmartha]

Another 'is she ill?' person.

Parents were always asked this at school parent's nights.

I wear loads of eye make up, hardly ever any lippy. I eat the stuff off within minutes, and a smidge of blusher if think about it.

I'd look really odd with a spray tan. No, no, no.

[flowery]

Get your colours done is my top tip. I don't look nearly as tired now I'm wearing the colours that really 'lift' me and no longer feel any need to worry about fake tan/sunbeds.

[MarieFromStMoritz]

WhollyGhost, I find your comment extremely rude. Just because you choose to be pale, you should not pass judgement on those who choose not to be.

[Nippysnippy]

Madm- if your teeth are an issue then just opt for an orange toned red as it counters any yellow.
Personally I love Mac Ruby Woo. It looks a knockout with pale skin.

[lambethlil]

One more 'is she ill' at parents' nights.

How old are you? I've got less white as I've aged- sun damage and just thicker skin I think.

I have had a tan, and it doesn't desperately suit me, I'd definitely say embrace it.

[noddyholder]

St tropez everyday gradual tan every couple of weeks takes the edge off and defined lashes and brows and a rosy pink lipstick

[Nippysnippy]

Also can recommend Elysambre matte lipstick in Garnet Red. It looks like velvety crushed raspberries....
Having pale skin means that you can really go for contrasting shades of lipstick and for some reason it just works.
I am a winter. Have you any idea of your season? Is your skin cool or warm pale?

[wildfig]

I'm very pale, with red hair and freckles, and I've always embraced it. Fake tan and bronzer just makes me look like I need a good wash - it doesn't look right with my colouring. The amount of SPF 30 I've had to slather on over the years means I've got virtually no wrinkles or lines, and I don't enjoy being in the sun, so it's not as though my blue-white legs are on public display anyway.

Agree with the recommendations for orange-red lipstick, and fine black eyeliner - a really elegant, polished look against porcelain skin. Blusher wakes my face up and balances the colours; Bobbi Brown is good for pale colouring.