I’m Indian, and I don’t know what blushes would look good with my skin. I’m wary of bright shades because I wear dark lipstick on a daily basis (usually red or maroon) and I don’t want to look like a clown! What would you recommend? —S., 15, Houston, TX

First off, yay for going all-out and having fun with makeup! I totally feel your pain with colors/shades, though: There are precious few resources out there for makeup on brown skin, so there’s a huge amount of trial and error involved until you get things right. Before choosing a blush for your skin tone, it’s important to figure out what your undertones are. Plum Perfect is a handy little app that analyzes your photos to determine your undertone. Another quick and easy method is to look at the color of the veins on your wrist. If the veins are more green than blue, then you have warm undertones. If they are more blue then your undertones are cool. If they’re somewhere in between (like mine!), you have olive or neutral undertones. That’s a somewhat rough description, because there are variants within the three categories, but it’s a good place to start!

Powder blushes are good because you have finer control over the amount you’re using, and you can build it up in layers if you want a bolder, more dramatic look. Soft, shimmery corals and oranges are gorgeous on skin with warm undertones. If your undertones are cool, you could try a pinker shade—but look for darker, rosy pinks, rather than the pale, pastel kind. Deep plums are gorgeous on darker skin in general, so if you have dark skin, a rich plum would look amazing with dark lipstick! Bronzers also work beautifully as blush on dark skin if you’re looking to give your cheeks a golden, shimmery glow.

Blush will always look a lot more dramatic in the container than it does on your face, so don’t be afraid of trying on something that looks rather bright or bold against the packaging! NARS Cosmetics and Colour Pop both have a huge range of blushes in all of the aforementioned ranges of colors (and Colour Pop is very reasonably priced). I also love Sleek Makeup, since they make cosmetics especially for POC and are very affordable without compromising on quality! Finally, if it’s possible for you to go to a Sephora or somewhere you can try on makeup in person before buying, I heartily recommend that. Happy experimenting! —Ragini

How does your favorite beauty products reflect your own sense of self? What do you use on the daily to feel more confident when you’re having a sucky day? And why does it make you feel better? —Amanda

I do a daily routine with a chunky waterproof eye liner pencil, and mascara, a hair straightener, and coconut oil. If I don’t straighten out my bangs and the side swoops of my hair, I feel like a sweaty, rat’s nest mess, especially in the summer when it’s humid. I wear black nail polish that I reapply every week or so. Only black, because for some reason, it’s the only color where I don’t care if it chips. I slather on smeary eyeliner pencil and mascara to look like a mean femme punk. I want to look both hot and intimidating. —Annie

Perfect eye liner. —Chanel

I got into the make up game pretty late, and when I did I never really took the time to learn the beauty basics, e.g. how to not smudge mascara on my eyelid while applying or how to contour my face so I can pretend I have cheekbones, but I have found two products that have become part of my daily getting-ready routine, which generally takes 10 minutes or less. BB cream is amazing if you have sensitive skin, because it’s light enough to not clog your pores, but still provides quite a bit of coverage to even out your skin tone. Certain brands have SPF, too! Lipstick, I swear, has some transformative power to make everything much better than before. Bad grade on a test? Lipstick. Going through a breakup? Lipstick. Just want to feel kick ass? Lipstick. My favorite hues are variations of orange, but when I’m feeling moody, a nice deep crimson does the trick. Like my grandma always says: “A lady needs a little lippy.” —Mads

Perfume helps me navigate how I want to interact with other people in a quiet psychological way. Perfume doesn’t have a gender. It merely has a story. I like to layer different stories for different versions of myself, and when I get stressed out, I take a sniff. I also like that we acclimate to perfumes, but the people we meet during the day don’t, necessarily, so it helps facilitate the idea that your body is actually a body that gets reactions from other bodies. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding that I’m not just a brain. —Arabelle

It’s always nail polish! So simple and also many steps to do so. Feels like I’ve completed a great task, or something. —Hazel

FAKE NAILS. They make me feel so much more authoritative and put together. Like, everything I do with my hands seems so much more elegant and important. When I started wearing fake nails, it signified a shift, during which I kind of stopped caring about the concept of looking “naturally beautiful” and become more oriented toward bold, purposeful looks. —Gabby

Red lipstick makes me feel polished and like nobody can fuck with me. —Pixie ♦

LET’S TALK, BEAUTY. Send your makeup-based queries to your biggest fan, Amy Rose, and the Oh! You Pretty Things crew via [email protected], ya young heartthrob.