Nude makeup

A bold look moves attention onto colour — the eye sees a red lip first and the skin second. Nude offers no such switch, so attention stays directly on the skin.

That means the base has to be flawless and, at the same time, thin. Heavy base is precisely what destroys a nude look: it produces an even surface that does not resemble living skin.

Real skin is not perfectly smooth. It has pores, fine lines and uneven light reflection. Those details are what tell a viewer the face is alive.

So nude makeup uses thin, local coverage: correcting where it is needed and leaving the skin alone where it already looks well. Full coverage is the opposite of a nude look, no matter what shade it is.

A nude palette is not beige. That is the other common misreading — beige looks unwell on a great many skin tones.

• Lips — one shade deeper than your own natural lip colour
• Cheeks — warm for a warm undertone, pink for a cool one
• Eyes — two tones at most, both close to your own skin
• Brows — one shade lighter than the roots of your hair

Nude makeup is built for daylight and works best there. Under artificial evening light it often disappears almost entirely.

So if you want a nude look for an evening event, the technique stays the same but the contrast rises slightly — usually through the lash line and the lip edge, without adding colour.

Nude is particularly good for business portraits, family shoots, and events where everyone else is wearing no makeup at all.

It works less well under strong artificial light or with flash photography. Both conditions erase the fine contrast a nude look depends on.