Everything about summer is lighter. The weather is warmer which leads us to eat lighter foods, wear lighter clothing and move towards a lighter makeup routine. Today we’re going to help you determine the perfect cool toned makeup routine for summer.
A cool toned makeup routine is perfect for those of us with pink or blue undertones, and the right makeup routine can make us come alive. The perfect thing about a cool toned makeup routine is that it’s the ideal natural look for summer. In this post we’re going to touch on cooler shades and lighter applications making you look natural and beautiful all summer long.
How to determine your skin tone
Determining your skin tone is the first step to making sure you pick the right makeup routine. How you answer these questions can help you determine if you have a cool skin tone.
- Do you look better in silver jewelry (as opposed to gold)?
- Does your skin appear more pink than golden?
- Do you look better in jewel-tones as opposed to earth tones?
- Does your natural hair color have no copper, red or gold in it?
- Do you look better in white (as opposed to cream)?
If you answered yes to most or all of those questions, then you’re in the right place for the perfect cool toned makeup routine for summer. You can also look at the veins on the inside of your wrist. If you have blue veins, that tends to mean you have a cool-toned palette.
If you’re still unsure of your coloring, visit a makeup counter and ask for help!
However, if you’re pretty confident that you have a cool-toned complexion, let’s go over the colors that are going to look great on you!
What are cool toned makeup colors?
- Pinks
- Mauves
- Plums
- Roses
- Cool browns
- Black
- Navy blue
- Bright blue
- Teal
- White
- Gray
Keep in mind that cool-toned skin shines in shades of purple, fuschia, pink and blue. Though picking those colors and mixing them into a cool toned makeup routine for summer can be confusing. Keep reading for some of our favorite products to help your routine.
The Best Foundations for Skin With Cool Undertones
Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear Care & Glow Serum Foundation
You’re going to want a light foundation for summer. That’s why we love this luminous finish, medium coverage foundation from Lancôme.
t’s also infused with a hyaluronic-acid based serum that hydrates and evens out your skin tone. They also label their cool-toned shades with the letter “C” to make it easier to find your match.
#FauxFilter Luminous Matte Concealer
Skip the foundation altogether to keep your skin and routine light for summer.
Replace a full foundation with this #fauxfilter matte concealer from Huda Beauty. We love the way this concealer looks when blended with a natural look. It’s the perfect companion for your cool-toned summer makeup routine.
The Best Blushes, Highlighters and Bronzers for a Cool-Toned Makeup Routine
The reason we shared cool-toned colors with you at the beginning of this post was to help you determine if a blush, bronzer or highlighter would compliment your skin tone. Pulling from that guide, the best cool-toned blush shares are baby pinks, mauves and icy lavenders. However, if you have medium to dark skin, focus on deeper mauves, bright fuchsias and berry shades.
Nars Blush
Trending on TikTok and for good reason.
This blush is lightweight, beautiful and comes in rich colors. It’s easy to find the perfect color for your cool-toned complexion. Consider their ‘Shimmering Candy Pink’ for a fair skin tone, or ‘Satin Deep Burgundy’ for a deeper complexion.
Haloscope
A cool skin tone calls for a cool highlighter.
Our advice is icy or champagne colors. However, if you’re looking for a darker tone, find a pink finish as opposed to red. We love Haloscope from Glossier, and make sure to choose ‘Quartz’ which is perfect for your cool skin tones. It’s a crystal infused highlighter that’s going to leave you feeling like you are glowing this summer.
Cheek’s Out Freestyle Cream Bronzer
Picking a summer bronzer can be difficult. You want to find something that is breathable, sweat resistant and lightweight!
All of these things put together are going to guarantee that your bronzer looks great all day, no matter the temperature!
Luckily for us, Fenty Beauty has created the perfect bronzer for summer. They’ve also put together some great color choices for cool tones and we love that they’ll tell you on the product whether or not the color you’ve picked is better for cool or warm tones.
The Best Eye Makeup for a Cool-Toned Makeup Routine
Cool-toned skin looks great with cool-toned eyeshadow, mascara and eyeliner, which happens to be very ‘on trend’ right now so if you’re reading this – you’re in luck! You can keep things neutral this summer with trending shades of taupe, cool brown and icy silver! Or you can play around with colors like pinks, purples and blues.
Matte Obsessions Eyeshadow Palette
Make sure to pick the “Cool Colors” palette v.s. the “Warm Colors” palette.
Huda has brought us the perfect palette for cool-toned skin, summer and the trends of the season. You can’t go wrong with this quality and beautiful palette for your summer makeup routine.
24/7 Glide-On Waterproof Eyeliner Pencil
Urban Decay has all the eyeliner colors you could ever want, but make sure to stick with colors that match your cool skin tone.
We highly recommend Viper or for something really fun this summer you can try Freak.
When it comes to eyeliner, we recommend choosing colors that are blue, green or brown and occasionally playing around with darker purples.
Voluminous Original Washable Mascara
Did you know that deep purple mascara looks great with a cooler skin tone? That’s why we chose this Deep Violet from L’Oréal.
The Best Lip Combo for a Cool-Toned Makeup Routine
Luckily for those of us with cool-toned complexions, the lip options are endless. But, we want to stick with a natural look for summer, so while we’d normally suggest flaming fuchsias or siren reds for a punchy and bright lip, we’re actually going to cool things down this summer with a more neutral and natural look.
Shimmer Tinted Lip Gloss
Finish off your look this summer with a shimmer tinted lip from Anastasia Beverly Hills.
Their new lip glosses are the perfect finish to your cool-toned summer makeup routine. Plus you know when you’re buying from Anatasia, you’re buying quality!
We especially love the ‘Peachy Pink’, which gives the perfect natural look or ‘Coral’ which is the perfect complement to cool-toned complexions.
Lip Liner
For cooler skin tones, we recommend Eternal Mauve from L’Oréal. If you have darker skin however, make sure to go with Nudes for Life.
In our opinion lip liner doesn’t get enough credit! A little lip liner can go a long way towards having a finished look.
The Best Primer/Color Corrector for a Cool-Toned Makeup Routine
When you want your makeup to stay in place all day long, you want to make sure that you’re choosing a high quality primer. Make sure to find something weightless, that will also help shield and protect your skin.
The Liquid Silk Canvas
We personally love this weightless primer from Tatcha. It will help your makeup stay in place all day, while also helping to protect your skin from pollutants.
The Best Dewy Setting Spray for Summer
We’ve talked throughout this post about the importance of finding summer products that will stay in place all day – it’s so much harder to have a flawless finish when it’s 90° outside v.s. winter temperatures. That’s why it’s always important to find a good setting spray.
Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Setting Spray
This flawless setting spray helps your makeup stay in place for up to 16 hours, no matter the temperature outside. It’ll also help you add the perfect glow to your cool toned makeup routine.
Put together, these products are going to help you create the perfect cool-toned makeup routine for summer. Each of these products works together to bring you a natural and light look – which is exactly what you need for summer.
When the temperatures get warmer, it’s time to turn to a lighter makeup routine. You want a look that’s going to last all day in the heat, so make sure that you’re always getting high quality products and sticking to a lighter coverage and more natural look.
Plus with just a few products for summer, your makeup bag will be ready to go for a beach resort vacation – helping you to avoid overpacking, just like our resort capsule wardrobe does.
