8 Makeup Tips for Fair Skin

Love these 8 Makeup Tips for Fair Skin - especially the one of trying eyeliner a shade or two darker than your eyeshadow. Sometimes black gets old and I want to change things up, definitely trying this!

Keira Knightley Poses Nude, Unphotoshopped.

Keira Knightley has posed toppless under the caveat that they don't Photoshop her breasts to be the same size or bigger. She said, "I've had my body manipulated so many different times for so many different reasons, whether it's paparazzi photographers or for film posters."

I love her message to embrace who you are, because we are all perfectly imperfect!

5 Favorite Fall Sweaters for Fair Skin with Warm Undertones

Following up my 5 Favorite Fall Sweaters for Fair Skin with Cool Undertones post, here are my favorite fall sweaters for fair skin with warm undertones. While a lot of very pale and fair people have cool undertones, those with fairer skin that tends to be less on the "super white" side of the fair skin spectrum can have warm undertones.

Here are some of my favorite picks if you have pale skin and warm undertones (if you're not sure, find out here):

Love this knit turtleneck in camo, especially paired with a leather skirt or pants. $25 Old Navy. 

Cozy up in this Dropout cable sweater in burnt orange, $78 Nasty Gal

Be warm and gorgeous with the Lani Sweater in Silver Ebony, $89 Emma Stine

 This sweet Weekday Textured Knit Sweater is made a little sassy when paired with leather pants , Asos $104

This stunning gorgeous stitch detail pullover sweater in Smoked Plum is perfect against the backdrop of warm-toned skin. Target, $25

What are your favorite fall sweaters?

5 Favorite Fall Sweaters for Fair Skin with Cool Undertones

Yay, it's fall! A Porcelain's favorite time of year! Why? No blistering sun + rain + foggy dark skies = we can run around outside with reckless abandon, not trying to find the closest shade spot to walk/stand in. (Although we should still wear sunscreen)

If you have pale skin and cool undertones (if you're not sure, find out here), you're going to love cozying up in these sweaters.

I love elbow patches! This purple sweater with black elbow patches is available at Asos for under $45.

This blue cable knit crop sweater features a mock neck and rounded hem. I'm in love with the pattern on this sweater - a hint of bodice. $78 at Nasty Gal.

This sweater is the August Sweater in Aspen Blue, but I want to call it the "coffee and rain" sweater, because it is the perfect sweater in which to sip coffee while looking at the rain outside. $198 at Emma Stine.

I love that they used a porcelain model for this sweater, and a ginger at that! Score 1 for the paleys. This cable knit sweater is perfect and budget-friendly, so feel free to get all three :). $45 at Gap

I had to. I mean, how could I not? Sweater? Check. Holiday appropriate? Check. Home Alone reference? Check, Check. This sweater is definitely going to be making an appearance at one of my holiday appearances. $29 by Dentz Designs on Etsy.

And fear not if you have warm undertones - that's next!

Portrait of a Porcelain: I Was Diagnosed with Skin Cancer at 16

Like many little pale girls, when I was young, many well meaning family members pushed me outside in the sun because I needed "just a little color." I burned every time. They'd push me back out in the sun, sunburn and all, telling me that if I did it enough, I'd start tanning.

I never tanned.

I do, however, have pretty severe sun damage on my decolletage. I scour my body, especially that area, for any sign of strange moles, new textures on existing moles, and anything else that looks amiss. I've rushed to my dermatologists with concerns as minor as "I think one of my moles may itch slightly," and they humor me every time. Luckily, I'm yet to be diagnosed with skin cancer, but that fear is always in the back of my mind.

I recently had the honor of meeting Hannah through the Rock Your Porcelain Instagram account. Hannah, a citizen of Germany, told me how she had been diagnosed with Basal Cell Carcinoma at the young age of 16, and I knew immediately that I wanted to hear her story.

According to SkinCancer.org Basal Cell Carcinomas (BCCs) are "abnormal, uncontrolled growths or lesions that arise in the skin’s basal cells, which line the deepest layer of the epidermis (the outermost layer of the skin). BCCs often look like open sores, red patches, pink growths, shiny bumps, or scars. Usually caused by a combination of cumulative UV exposure and intense, occasional UV exposure, BCC can be highly disfiguring if allowed to grow, but almost never spreads (metastasizes) beyond the original tumor site. Only in exceedingly rare cases can BCC spread to other parts of the body and become life-threatening."

And if you're thinking, "No big deal, it rarely becomes life threatening," go back to the part where it says it can be "highly disfiguring." I googled this, to spare you the gross pictures, and let me tell you: they really mean it can be highly disfiguring. If you have a strong stomach, here you go. (WARNING: very disturbing pictures)

Hannah took the time to answer some of my questions about her experience with being diagnosed with BCC, and at such a young age:

RYP: How old were you when you were diagnosed with skin cancer, and what was the exact diagnosis?

Hannah: I was 14 when it appeared and at 16 I went the doctor to cut away the "wart" underneath my eye. A week later he called me and told me that the thing was not a "wart," that it was a "basaliom" (note: "basaliom" is the German word for Basal Cell Carcinoma). So that I had white skin cancer. And that he has to cut more tissue away otherwise it will grow back. Later I informed myself on the Internet and found out that I could not die from it, but that it destroys the tissue of my skin. 

RYP: When did you first notice that something was wrong? 

Hannah: Because it had not disappeared in two years, I thought it was a "wart," but my dad noticed that it had grown and he wanted a doctor to cut it away. 

RYP: You were diagnosed with skin cancer at such a young age, was the possibility of getting skin cancer ever even a thought in your mind prior to the diagnosis? 

Hannah: I did not ever know that white skin cancer existed, but I knew how dangerous black skin cancer could be because my mother had it and survived it. So I thought I could get black skin cancer, too. But not at that age. 

RYP: I'm so glad that everything turned out OK for you, but it must have been such a scary diagnosis to receive; what was going through your mind when the doctor first brought up skin cancer?

Hannah: I was so shocked by the word "cancer" and directly started to cry. My family was around me, helped me, and we started to google it. The pictures of other basalioms looked definitely more shocking than mine. That I could not die from it should have calmed me down, but the fact that mainly people around 60 get this shocked me even more. And that it just appears in the face area and destroys the skin tissue made me cry again. 

RYP: How has having gone through this impacted your life? Do you do anything different now? 

Hannah: Of couse it has! Now I just love my skin colour. I never would want to be tanned, and I think that everybody should love their natural skin colour. I think that a beauty ideal is unnecessary, and that Sun Studios (tanning salons) should be removed. Another thing I started to do was to protect my skin every day with a spf of 50. 

RYP: What would be your advice to fellow fair-skinned girls out there who may feel similar to you prior to developing skin cancer? 

Hannah: Fair-skinned girls should accept and love their own skin because it's beautiful. And most importantly protect it on an everyday basis because they have a higher risk to get white and black skin cancer. I would suggest to wear at least a spf of 30 in their daily moisturizer.

Love your skin and protect it, we couldn't agree more. THANK YOU Hannah, for sharing your story with us.

Hannah today, skin cancer free

Bronzers for Fair Skin/Blogger Love for A Little Bit etc.

I go through bronzers regularly. Mostly because I'm fickle with makeup in general and love trying new products.

A great bronzer makes me feel alive on my worst day. A bad one makes me feel like a little girl who was playing with Mommy's makeup and didn't know what she was doing.

I love the A Little Bit etc. blog because Maree Sye lives and breathes beauty. Her background is in makeup and skincare, and her love of what she does shines through on her blog.

Check out her awesome blog post on bronzers for pale skin. And while you're there, look around a little bit. This woman knows makeup!

Does Ben Nye Banana Powder Work on Pale and Fair Skin?

Oh Kim Kardashian, you little trendsetter.

Seems like when her and her makeup artist revealed that the secret to her glow was Ben Nye Banana Powder, the beauty world went on a Banana Powder frenzy, and I saw tons of reviewers rave about how it works on virtually any skin type to achieve that Kardashian glow.

But us porcelains know "virtually any skin type" usually precludes ours.

Which begs the question: can pale girls where the Ben Nye Banana Powder?

I saw a few review videos that claimed they could, so I decided to investigate for myself. I went online to Makeup Mania, which has the BEST sample program. You can get three generous samples of any of their makeup for just a couple of bucks. I got 9 samples for under $10.

I went online to find a tutorial on how to use it.

I must caveat: I am by NO means a makeup artist. Just a pale girl who likes to play with makeup.

I liked this one a lot:



So I did my thing:

Annnnnnnnnd:

No. I look like I've got a touch of liver disease. It's quite yellow, and I did blend like a mad woman. 

Note: This may work better if your skin tone is warmer? For $3, it's worth a sample to try. And if you have warmer skin tone, I'd love for you to leave a comment and let me know if this worked for you.

Don't feel that you are left out of the world of Kardashian glow, because I found a few other products on Makeup Mania that I am head-over-heels in love with, so stay tuned for those reviews coming next!