Zara Larsson has truly shown us that bright colours like teal and pink are reigning this season. So naturally, we’re ditching natural makeup and bringing back colours. The it-girls of our generation, like Zendaya, the aespa members, and Orm Kornnaphat, just to name a few, proved that make-up should be fun and creative, and it seems that this summer is reflecting just that. Riding the wave of 2010s summer nostalgia, when galaxy prints were all the rage, this colour outburst certainly did not come as a surprise.
Colourful Eyeshadows
Let’s rewind to the early 2000s, when icy-blue eyelids were all over our moodboards. Blue eyeshadow slipped into our shopping carts after being mesmerised by Zendaya’s frosted look at The Odyssey premiere. If blue fails to tickle your fancy, pick between yellow, teal, pink, or purple—these colours will complement your whimsical summer wardrobe. Balance it out with a nude lip colour or take it up a notch like aespa’s Ningning with bold red lips.
Alternatively, if you are not ready to commit to a fully coloured eyelid, coloured eyeliner is always the silver bullet. Whether it is tightlining your waterline or fierce winged eyeliner, a brightly coloured eyeliner will definitely make your eyes pop.
Vibrant Blushes
Those flushed red cheeks we get from being in the hot sun for too long? Double it. We’ve got Orm draped in warm orange blush and Sabrina Carpenter’s hot pink cheeks. The tip to sporting these heavy flushes is to not overdo it—keep everything subtle and let the blush do the talking.
And the flush doesn’t end on your cheekbones. Scatter some of the blush onto the nose like XG’s Maya for that sun-kissed look. There are varied placements when it comes to applying blushes, and that depends on your face shape or preference; some like it high, almost towards their temples to highlight their cheekbones for the facelift effect, some prefer the “Igari” blush, draping their blush under their eyes with either a bright red or pink that recreates the drunk blush.
Blinding Highlighters
This summer has, in fact, been too hot for us, so let’s keep it cool with an icy highlighter. Wearing blinding and sparkly highlighter gives your skin that glowy finish that makes you look refreshed despite the heat. Go big or go home with the highlighter—take it to the inner corners of your eyes and top it up with some eye-catching sparkly gems for a dramatic look.
Smudged Lips
Pouty and smudged lips are still trending, and the girls are overlining their lips for that plump lip effect. There are two ways of doing it: overlining it with lip tints gives you that lightweight “Tanghulu” dewy gloss, while outlining them with lip liner adds a defined, structural edge to the lip.
What does your summer look like? Yellow eyeshadow or orange blush? If you’re feeling creative, we suggest moving up a gear to recreate Zara Larsson’s leopard print eyeshadow. You could even add some face gems for the extra sparkles or a glittery lip gloss as the first step. The key is to have fun with the colours, for makeup knows no bounds.
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