Photo: Philippe Solomon
With the fall season comes a new color scheme. While the leaves change from green to orange and red, we opt for clothes from a more muted palette and trade in our bright summer lipstick and nail polish for darker berries and wine-colored hues. Diving into these deeper shades is one of our favorite things about autumn (maybe even more than pumpkin spice everything), but it's not always easy to pull off this kind of moody makeup without looking washed out or goth. So we enlisted makeup pro Jerome Alexander to give us some easy tips to follow when going dark.
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Choose the Most Flattering Shade. From berry to burgundy to oxblood, there are many different dark shades on the lipstick color spectrum, but not all work on every skin tone. Women with fair skin should choose something pink-based like the NYX Cosmetics Matte Lipstick in Merlot to really make their eyes pop. Blue-based lipsticks like M.A.C Living Legend complement medium skin tones and also have the bonus effect of making teeth appear whiter. Those with darker skin tones should choose something with a brown base like Lipstick Queen's Sinner Berry. A rich hue like this one will add dimension to the lips.
Apply With a Brush. Dark lipstick can often end up streaky and dry if it is not applied correctly. So, the best way to ensure sure a clean and even finish is to use a lip brush. It will give you better control of where the color is applied, and guarantee that you'll stay streak-free.
Related: 10 ELLE.com Editors Share Their Favorite Nail Polishes for Fall
Line Your Lips. To prevent your lipstick from feathering (which happens much more easily with darker shades), line your lips with a lip pencil before applying your lipstick. Try to find a liner that exactly matches your lip color, but if not, go a shade darker. Be sure to blend out any harsh contrasts between the liner and the lipstick with your brush to keep things looking smooth.
Keep it Simple. If you're wearing a dark lip color, make sure you don't overdo it with your eye makeup. You want to complement your lips without looking too overdone, so focus on your eyelashes with an extra coat of mascara and skip any heavy eyeliner and dark eye shadow. Apply a bright blush to the apples of your cheeks to make sure light skin tones don't look washed out and darker skin tones have some added color.
Related: 3 Steps to the Perfect Modern Smoky Eye
Smoke Out Your Eyes. If a burgundy lipstick isn't your thing, but you want a dark, moodier look for fall, a subtle smoky eye is a great option. An easy way to achieve a dramatic, smoky effect without too much effort is to simply smudge out your eye liner. Take a dark eyeliner pencil and draw a line at the base of the lashes as you normally would, but then take a small dense makeup bush or smudger brush and diffuse the eyeliner for a smoky effect. You can also add a small amount of black or brown eye shadow to intensify the look even more.
Warm Up With Your Nails. If you're not quite ready to commit to an intense dark lip or a smoky eye, try starting with your nails. A manicure in a deep burgundy like Deborah Lippmann's Just Walk Away Renee, a chocolate brown such as Laura Mercier Bare Espresso, or even a dark gray like Essie Over the Top can transition your look into fall without making too much of a statement.
