Makeup colors by season

Makeup sits on your face, so it follows the same rules as clothing, only more closely. Here is how to pick lip, cheek and eye colors that work with your season.

Three principles

The same three qualities that define your season apply to makeup.

• Temperature. Warm seasons suit peach, coral, brick and golden shades. Cool seasons suit pink, berry, rose and plum.
• Depth. Light coloring is easily overpowered by very dark lipstick; deep coloring can make very pale shades look chalky.
• Clarity. Clear seasons look polished in saturated, glossy color. Soft seasons look better in blended, slightly muted color with a satin or matte finish.

A simple shortcut is to keep your lips and cheeks in the same color family. A coral lip and a peach blush, or a berry lip and a rose blush, look intentional together.

Undertone matters less for eyeshadow than for lips and blush, because shadow sits farther from the cheeks and blends into the shadows of the eye socket. Depth and clarity still count.

Spring

• Lips: peach, coral, warm pink and clear poppy red. Light Springs do best with sheer peach and light coral; Bright Springs can wear bright coral-red.
• Blush: peach, apricot and warm pink.
• Eyeshadow: champagne, golden beige, soft bronze, warm taupe, and accents like teal or warm green.
• Liner and mascara: brown or soft brown-black. Bright Springs can wear black.

Summer

• Lips: rose, soft pink, raspberry, mauve and soft berry. Light Summers suit sheer rose; Soft Summers suit muted mauve-pink.
• Blush: soft pink, rose and cool mauve.
• Eyeshadow: cool taupe, soft gray, lavender, slate and plum-brown.
• Liner and mascara: gray, navy, soft charcoal or brown-black. Pure black can look harsh on Light and Soft Summers.

Autumn

• Lips: brick, terracotta, warm nude, cinnamon and rust. Soft Autumns suit muted rose-brown and soft terracotta; Deep Autumns suit deep brick and warm berry-brown.
• Blush: terracotta, warm peach and soft bronze.
• Eyeshadow: bronze, copper, olive, khaki, warm brown and gold.
• Liner and mascara: brown, bronze or olive. Deep Autumns can wear black-brown.

Winter

• Lips: blue-red, fuchsia, berry, plum and cool pink. Deep Winters suit black cherry; Bright Winters suit vivid pink and true red.
• Blush: cool pink, berry and fuchsia, applied lightly.
• Eyeshadow: charcoal, silver, cool taupe, navy, plum and icy shades.
• Liner and mascara: black. Winter coloring usually handles the contrast well.

Finishes matter too

Finish changes how a color reads. A glossy or metallic finish reflects light and makes a color look brighter and clearer. A matte finish makes the same shade look softer and slightly deeper.

• Bright Springs and Bright Winters often look best with some shine: a gloss, a satin lipstick, a lightly shimmering lid.
• Soft Summers and Soft Autumns often look best in satin and matte finishes, with shimmer kept fine and subtle.
• Deep seasons can carry richer, more opaque formulas. Light seasons usually look better in sheer ones.

Everyday neutrals

If you want one low-effort routine, choose a "your lips but better" shade, a blush that matches the natural flush of your cheeks, and one eyeshadow a shade or two deeper than your skin in your season's temperature. Most people can build every other look from there.

How to test makeup colors

Store lighting and the back of your hand both mislead.

• Test where you'll wear it. Lip color on lips, blush on cheeks. The back of your hand is a different color from your face.
• Look in daylight. Take a sample or a tester to the store window, or step outside with a mirror.
• Wait a few minutes. Some formulas darken or shift as they settle.
• Look from arm's length. Other people see you at a distance, so judge the overall effect, not the close-up texture.