Cool Nude
Greige tones for anyone warm shades wash out. 3 steps, roughly 9 minutes, rated easy.
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Most nude palettes are built warm, which leaves cool-toned faces looking faintly sunburnt. This is the same everyday structure rebuilt in greys, mauves and cool taupes.
What you will need
- A neutral-to-cool foundation
- A grey-taupe matte shadow
- A cool-toned contour, not a bronzer
- A mauve blush
- Mascara
- A rosy-brown lipstick
No specific brands. Any brand's version will work the same way.
Sculpt cool, not warm
Use a genuinely grey-based contour under the cheekbone rather than a bronzer. You are imitating a shadow, and real shadows are not orange.
Tip
Warmth can go back in afterwards with blush. Starting warm gives you nowhere to go.
Greige through the crease
One wash of grey-taupe through the crease, blended up and out. On cool colouring this reads as depth where a warm brown would read as a bruise.
Tip
Take it slightly past the outer corner rather than upward. It lengthens the eye and keeps the look flat and modern.
Mauve cheek, rosy-brown lip
A mauve blush placed high, one coat of mascara, then a rosy-brown lip that has some pink under the brown so it does not go ashy.
Tip
Hold candidate lipsticks against the inside of your wrist. If they disappear against your veins, they are cool enough.
See it on your own face first.
Two minutes of questions, one optional photo, and this look gets rendered onto your own colouring before you spend anything.
Common questions
Silver jewellery tends to flatter you more than gold, your veins read blue or purple rather than green, and warm bronzers make you look slightly ruddy rather than sunlit.
Parts of it. Keep the greige eye, which is nearly universal, but swap the cool contour for a neutral one and the mauve blush for a soft peach.
