Your Guide To Slaying Nude Makeup Shades

Your Guide To Slaying Nude Makeup Shades

Conventional makeup, meaning bright lip colors, heavy eye makeup and layers of foundation and concealer, aren’t for everyone all the time. You may want to go a bit more casual for work, lunch meet-ups or laid-back days with friends. Or you may be the type of person who wholly believes less is more when it comes to makeup.

In these instances, nude makeup shades are the way to go. It’s hallmarked by a lighter touch with products and shades that work to complement a natural look, rather than overpower it. Below is your guide to working with nude makeup shades.

Use Natural Shades

The key consideration for the nude look is your shades of makeup. There’s an extra emphasis on the world “natural” here. Make sure your makeups look as close to your natural color as possible. Concealers should blend in perfectly. Lipsticks and glosses should match your natural lip color or be a nude shade for a light accent. Mascaras should match your eyelash color. Eye shadows should be in neutral shades like bronze. Blushes should look natural in subtle shades, powder formulas and a light application.

Go Light With Makeup

Speaking of light application, the next step is to apply makeup as lightly as possible. With that in mind, you can handle your foundation in several ways: forgo it entirely and just blend in your concealer well, apply a tinted moisturizer as your base or use a light layer of foundation that has a sheer finish. The key is to not have that “heavy makeup” look that tons of foundation can give.

For eyes, feel free to ditch the liner and just use mascara. That will give the eye area some weight, but still keep it looking natural. Make sure your mascara is dark if you have dark hair, and use a lighter brown mascara if you have light hair. It’s also common to completely avoid eye shadow with this look, but you can use a light application of neutral eye shadow shades, if you want.

Lips can also go a couple of ways. You can use a lipstick, but go light. You may even want to blot the lipstick on a tissue after application to tone down the shade. Another option is to just apply a bit of lip gloss to accent your natural lip color and add a little bit of a dewy sheen.

Keep Your Skin In Good Order

The best idea for rocking the nude look is to make sure your skin is looking fantastic. That will mean less makeup to cover blemishes and other spots, leading to a more subtle overall look. To keep your skin in the best condition possible—make sure to keep up on the traditional cleanser, toner and moisturizer routine once or twice per day (depending on how dry your skin gets). Exfoliate at least weekly, though make sure you exfoliate your lips at least a couple times per week. Since you’re not covering your lips as much, you’ll want those kissers to be in top shape. And keep your skin hydrated and purified from the inside by drinking plenty of water.