Summer makeup can be tricky to get right. Your makeup needs to have enough staying power to not budge in the sticky heat, be light enough so that it doesn’t feel like a film on your skin, and be fun enough to take you from music festival to backyard barbecue (and whatever else you have planned). Most importantly, it should make you feel good—that’s what makeup is all about.
Fortunately, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Here, we’ve rounded up eight of our favorite makeup looks for summer. Whether you like to keep it cool and casual or are someone who’ll never say no to full glam, we’ve got you covered. Keep reading to discover a few of (what we consider to be) the best summer makeup looks to try in 2024.
Summer Makeup Idea #1: Peachy Eyes
Embrace the color of the year with shimmery, peach-toned lids—the warm hue is a perfect nod to those watercolor sunsets you’ll soon enjoy.
Step 1: Apply a peach-toned shade to your lids
For this pastel summer makeup look, you only need one product: our Ultimate Shadow Palette in Paradise Shock. Use an eyeshadow brush to sweep the palette’s matte peach shade onto your upper lids, blending the color slightly outward to create a soft, smokey effect.
Step 2: Add dimension
Next, swipe your eyeshadow brush across the pigment-packed salmon pink shade. Lightly sweep the brush onto the outer and inner corners of each eye, then tap off any excess shadow and use the same brush to blend the paler peach shade into the salmon shade. Once you’re finished blending, you should have a soft, sunset-like gradient of color.
Then, using a smaller eyeshadow brush, apply the same salmon pink shade to your lower lash line. Blend it well—you don’t want an ultra-sharp application, but rather, a soft, diffused effect.
Step 3: Finish with a touch of shimmer
Lastly, press your ring finger into one of the pro palette’s sparkly shades (we love the pinkish gold hue right next to the salmon color) and tap your finger onto the center of each eyelid to add a subtle pop of shimmer. If you want to amp it up, you can apply this same shadow to your inner corner in place of highlighter.
Summer Makeup Idea #2: Sunburnt Blush
Move over “I’m cold” blush—this summer, it’s all about recreating a sunburnt look (sans the sun damage). Here’s how.
Step 1: Prime and protect
Prime and protect your skin in one simple step with Blur Screen SPF 30 Primer. This 3-in-1 primer blurs imperfections, grips makeup for up to 18 hours of wear, and helps protect your skin with SPF 30 sunscreen.
Step 2: Apply blush
Next up is blush—and lots of it. For this, we suggest using our Wonder Stick Blush. The dual-ended cream blush stick melts into the skin for an effortless-looking flushed glow. Apply the darker of the two shades where you’d typically apply contour, then flip the stick over and draw a line from cheek to cheek, taking the blush right over the bridge of your nose. Use your fingers to blend and diffuse the color for a seamless yet sculpted sun-kissed look.
Step 3: Finish with highlighter
This step is optional, but we’d recommend doing it—simply because glowy skin and summer go together so well. Grab our Jumbo Multi-Use Highlighter Stick in Coconut Cake and use the pearlescent formula to illuminate your brow bones, the bridge of your nose, and the tops of your cheekbones for a soft, summery glow.
Summer Makeup Idea #3: Red Glossy Lips
One of the most unexpected summer 2024 makeup trends: red lips. While vampy red lips are typically reserved for cooler weather, this playful look involves using bright, shiny lip gloss in place of opaque matte lipstick for a bold yet totally wearable finish. You don’t need a step-by-step to nail this simple summer makeup look—all you need is the right product. Try Fat Oil Lip Drip in Newsfeed for a softer look, or snag Duck Plump High Pigment Plumping Lip Gloss in Hall of Flame for a bold, ultra-glossy finish.
Summer Makeup Idea #4: Glowy Bronzed Skin
Tanned skin and summertime go hand-in-hand. But you don’t need to lay out for hours to get that bronzy glow (nor should you). Instead, follow this tutorial:
Step 1: Prime your skin
Because this summer makeup look is all about that “been out in the sun” glow, you want your skin to take center stage. That’s why we recommend starting your routine with moisturizer. Our pick: Face Freezie Cooling Primer + Moisturizer. You can layer it under foundation or wear it alone for a fresh-faced finish.
Step 2: Apply your bronzer
The hero of this summer makeup look is bronzy, sunkissed-looking skin—so naturally, you need a bronzer that can pull its weight. That’s why we suggest snagging Buttermelt Bronzer. Use the coordinating Buttermelt Bronzer Brush to dust the formula onto your cheekbones, forehead, nose, and anywhere else you’d naturally tan.
Step 3: Set with a dewy setting spray
Since this look is about creating a natural-looking summer glow, we suggest setting your makeup with our Dewy Setting Spray. It’s formulated with niacinamide and leaves the skin looking fresh and dewy.
Summer Makeup Idea #5: Softly Sculpted Glam
When you think of makeup looks for summer, glam may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But with the right products, you can achieve a sculpted, glam look that’s perfect for nights out—and rest assured that it won’t melt off in the heat. Here’s what to do:
Step 1: Start with a matte base
You may find your skin looks shinier than usual when the temperatures soar, and that’s normal—high temps can make your skin look greasy. To help counteract that and achieve a flawless-looking base, we suggest starting your routine with a matte foundation, like Bare With Me Blur Tint Foundation.
Step 2: Sculpt and shape
Using the darker shade in the dual-ended Wonder Stick Contour and Highlighter Stick, draw a line directly underneath your cheekbone, starting at your ear and extending it about halfway toward your mouth. Then, use a damp makeup sponge to blend out the contour, buffing it out well so there are no obvious lines of demarcation.
Step 3: Add highlight
With the lighter shade in your contour and highlight stick, illuminate the high points of your face—namely, the bridge of your nose, your cupid’s bow, and the tops of your cheekbones. You can also use a small eyeshadow brush to add a bit of highlight to the inner corner of your eye, or, for a super-precise application, use the Wonder Pencil Micro Highlighter Pencil to illuminate your inner corners and brow bone. Blend all of the highlighter well to get a softly diffused, lit-from-within effect.
Step 4: Lock it in
Finally, complete your sculpted yet effortless summer makeup look by setting your makeup in place with a long-lasting setting spray. We suggest opting for our Marshmellow Matte Setting Spray, which, as the name implies, leaves the skin with a soft matte finish.
Summer Makeup Idea #6: Metallic Ocean Blue Eyes
When you think of summertime, what color comes to mind? For us, it’s blue. Whether it’s the pale blue of a clear summertime sky or the turquoise hue of cool water, blue just screams summer, especially when it’s paired with a bit of shimmer. Embrace the versatile shade with a summer eyeshadow look featuring various shades of blue.
You’ll find several blue shadows in our Ultimate Shadow Palette in Blue Jean Baby, including deep navy tones and pastel periwinkles. If liquid shadow is more your speed, try the Ultimate Glow Shots Liquid Eyeshadow in Blueberry Baller. And if you’d rather experiment with a pop of blue eyeliner, try swapping out your go-to wing for a vivid cobalt one with our Vivid Rich Mechanical Pencil in Aquamarine Dream.
Summer Makeup Idea #7: Subtle Faux Freckles
There are few things quite as endearing as freckles. And though not everyone is naturally blessed with a smattering of freckles, you can fake them fairly easily with eyeliner. Pick a pencil eyeliner in a shade slightly darker than your natural skin tone and use it to draw small, irregular dots along the bridge of your nose and the top of your cheeks. Then, use your ring finger to lightly smudge the dots—the warmth from your finger will help soften any sharp edges and give your faux freckles a more natural look.
Summer Makeup Idea #8: Glitter Lips
As far as we’re concerned, there’s nothing a bit of sparkle can’t improve. Fortunately for us, glitter lips are on track to be one of the biggest summer 2024 makeup trends. Lean into the playful look by snagging a glittery gloss, such as Butter Gloss Bling in She Got Money. If you prefer a subtler look, you can experiment with a shimmery balm, instead—we’re partial to Fat Oil Slick Clicks in Hits Different. Let your lips be the star of the show, or pair your pout with a sparkly eye look that’s ideal for summer evenings and weekend-long music festivals.
Best Summer Makeup Products to Use this Season
The best makeup for summer holds up to the heat and provides long-lasting wear—without feeling heavy or sticky on the skin. With that in mind, here are a few products we recommend adding to your summer makeup arsenal:
Blur Screen SPF 30 Primer
Protecting your skin from the sun is important year-round, but especially so in the summer when you’ll be spending lots of time outdoors. Enter: SPF-infused primer. This coconut juice and cactus flower-infused formula grips makeup, blurs the skin, and helps protect against damaging UV rays with SPF 30 sunscreen. It boasts a lightweight (and non-greasy) finish and blends seamlessly without a white cast on a wide range of skin tones.
Bare With Me Blur Tint Foundation
Summertime often brings with it shiny-looking skin, which is where a matte-finish foundation can come in handy. This lightweight formula provides medium coverage and helps mattify the skin for a filter-like finish that lasts up to 16 hours.
Buttermelt Bronzer
This high-pigment bronzer applies like a powder but melts into the skin for a soft, natural-looking glowy finish—no muddiness, patchiness, or unnatural-looking orange cast in sight. Plus, it offers up to 12 hours of fade- and transfer-resistant wear, so you don’t have to worry about touch-ups while you’re soaking up the sun.
Face Freezie Cooling Primer + Moisturizer
This ultra-refreshing skincare-makeup hybrid preps, evens, smooths, minimizes pores, tightens, hydrates, sculpts, calms, and revitalizes skin. Plus, it can be worn with makeup or alone for a summery, fresh-faced finish.
Face Freezie Reusable Undereye Patches
When popped in the fridge before use, these silicone patches help depuff and reduce the appearance of dark circles—plus, the cooling sensation is an excellent pick-me-up on a hot summer day.
Zero to Brow Longwear Brow Gel
You don’t have to worry about your perfectly shaped arches sweating off when you use this pigment-packed brow gel: the smudge- and transfer-resistant formula offers up to two days (!) of wear. Just be sure to let the liquid gel set before you touch your brows—after application, it should dry down in about 60 seconds.
Epic Ink Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner
Muggy summer days (and nights) call for an eyeliner that can hold its own. Fortunately, this beloved liquid liner is up for the job. The intensely pigmented formula is both waterproof and smudge-proof, so you can enjoy your summertime activities without having to worry about reapplying your wing.
Fat Oil Lip Drip
Last but not least, we have a year-round favorite: Fat Oil Lip Drip. This hydrating lip oil-lip gloss hybrid is formulated with vegan squalane, raspberry oil, and cloudberry oil, and it delivers up to 12 hours of hydration with non-sticky, glossy shine. You can wear the tinted formula alone for a soft wash of color or layer it over your favorite lipstick for added nourishment and shine. Either way, this ultra-glossy formula is a must-have in your makeup bag—in the summer and beyond.
Next Up: 12 Trending Eye Makeup Looks to Try This Year.
Have a summer makeup look you love? We want to see it. Share a pic on social and tag us @nyxcosmetics.
PRODUCTS USED
Buttermelt Bronzer
High pigment, true-to-skin buttery powder bronzer. Fade & transfer resistant with up to 12HR wear.
BLURSCREEN SPF 30 PRIMER
A blurring primer sunscreen with no white cast and up to 18h makeup wear.
Fat Oil Lip Drip
Hydrating tinted lip oil gloss
Face Freezie Cooling Primer + Moisturizer
10-in-1 benefits with snow mushroom + niacinamide
Face Freezie Reusable Cooling Undereye Patches
Reusable cooling undereye patches
Wonder™ Stick Contour and Highlighter Stick
Two-In-One Cream Contour Stick and Highlighter Stick
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Ultimate Glow Shots Liquid Eyeshadow
Liquid Shimmery Eyeshadow
ULTIMATE SHADOW PALETTE
Pro-Level 16 pan Palette
Wonder™ Pencil Micro Highlighter Pencil
Dual-Ended Highlighter and Concealer Stick
