The Prettiest (and Easiest)

Makeup for Summer

Here’s a counterintuitive makeup-artist secret: You can use a lot less makeup if you wear brighter colors. Summer—when glowy, healthy skin is more on display—is when this trick is most effective. “Adding sheer, intense color to your eyes, cheeks, or lips is an easy way to brighten your face without wearing much makeup,” says LA makeup artist Jillian Dempsey (famous for her vibrating face bar, another foolproof face-waker-upper). “Bright colors can be really sheer and still enhance your natural glow, so you get that no-makeup makeup look with even less product.”

1. The easiest way to pull off any color—whether it’s hot pink, deep blackberry, bright poppy, or fiery copper—is to apply it as a whisper, as opposed to a full-on statement with lots of texture. As clean, nontoxic tech has advanced, the new pigments for lips, lids, and cheeks are more beautiful than ever; pick a shade that suits your skin and start experimenting. Applied with restraint, every one of these shades is sexy (for day or night), easy, and gorgeous on absolutely every skin tone.

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   Jillian Dempsey
   GOLD SCULPTING BAR
   goop, $195

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2. LIPS AND CHEEKS

   Dab color on both your lips and cheeks for an easy, pulled-together look that really flatters the skin. Whether your vibe is more tinted balm or shiny gloss, juicy stain or creamy lipstick, vibrant color or low-key flourish, a warming flush instantly brightens your entire face.

1. Sheer Hot-Pink Balm

   
   Olio E Osso
   Balm
   goop, $28

2. Vivid Peach Gloss

   
   ILIA
   LIP GLOSS
   goop, $24

3. Deep-Blackberry Stain

   
   Balmyard Beauty
   Baby Love Balm
   
   Lip + Cheek Tint
   goop, $32

4. Bright-Red Lipstick

   
   Kosas
   Weightless Lip Color
   goop, $28

1. Bright-Red Lipstick

   
   Kosas
   Weightless Lip Color
   goop, $28

2. Pro Tip

   Exfoliate away dryness with this gentle lip sugar scrub before you apply pigment for smoother, softer, plumper-looking lips.

   Rose-and-Sugar
   Lip Scrub

   
   French Girl
   Rose Lip Polish
   goop, $18

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2. CHEEKS

   The idea is a softly invigorated flush, as if you’ve just jogged on the beach and the energy is surging through you. Cream formulas enhance a dewy sheen, while powders last longer, especially on oily complexions. Apply either at the apples of the cheeks, then blend upward at an angle for a soft, lifting effect.

1. Electric-Coral Cream

   
   Jillian Dempsey
   Cheek Tint
   goop, $28

2. Dusty-Pink Powder

   
   Beautycounter
   Satin Powder Blush
   goop, $30

3. Bronzer/Luminizer

   Blend a little bronzer on top of blush for a gorgeous sun-kissed burnish. It can also go just about anywhere else—the bridge of the nose, Cupid’s bow, chin, lids, or collarbones. Warm rose gold lights up darker skin tones beautifully, while cooler, shimmer-flecked formulas flatter lighter skin.

1. Cool-Peach Shimmer
   
   
   (Great for Paler Skin)

   
   RMS Beauty
   Peach Luminizer
   goop, $38

2. Warm Rose Gold
   
   
   (Great for Darker Skin)

   
   (M)anasi 7
   Bronzelighter
   goop, $58

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2. EYES

   A faint wash of color across the lids is magic: low-key enough for day and fittingly moody for a night out. You can layer the copper and pink shades below for a full-on metallic effect, use either on its own, or smooth on the sheer plum lid gloss from Jillian Dempsey, a gleamy flourish that’s the sexy essence of summer itself.

1. Shimmering Copper

   
   Rituel de Fille
   Ash and Ember Eye Soot
   goop, $38

2. Chic Metallic Pink

   
   RMS Beauty
   Creamy Eye Polish
   goop, $28

3. Sheer Plum

   
   Jillian Dempsey
   Lid Tint
   goop, $28

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2. Finishing Touches: Mascara and
   
   a Hydrating Makeup-Setting Mist

   Fluttery, shiny, inky lashes are sexy, transformative, and the easiest way to look instantly more rested. (The one from Juice Beauty glides on like a dream and stays put.) Another trick we love for an instant refresh: Spritz on a hydrating face mist to set makeup and to revive it later in the day. The jasmine-infused one from May Lindstrom smells incredible and leaves skin gleamy and nourished.

1. Defining Mascara

   
   Juice Beauty
   Phyto-Pigments
   
   
   Ultra-Natural Mascara
   goop, $24

2. Gleamy Face Mist

   
   May Lindstrom
   The Jasmine Garden
   goop, $70