TikTok's Latte Makeup Trend Was Made For Summer

No matter if you’re a coquette princess or a quiet luxury connoisseur, one thing can be agreed on in terms of makeup: summer is when a bronzed goddess look always comes out to play. There are plenty of ways to get a sun-kissed glam, but the latest "latte makeup" trend has taken TikTok by storm. Whether you’d rather drink a café au lait or an icy cold brew doesn’t matter—here’s why latte makeup will be your go-to look for glowing, bronzed skin this summer.

The Trend

Tiktoker Rachel Rigler first coined the trend, inspired by an image from 2018, where makeup artist Tanielle Jai created a warm bronzy look for a campaign shoot. Latte makeup is defined by a bronzed beat that uses rich brown, caramel, and tan tones on the eyes, cheeks, and lips. Regarding complexion, latte makeup is the Goldilocks of glass skin and cloud skin—it’s not so dewy that it creates a mirror-like finish, and it’s not entirely matte, either. Instead, Rigler states that it’s “milky and effortless,” creating a radiant soft-focus glow similar to a summer tan.

Though blush is having a moment right now, this trend is all about shades of brown—so the technique calls for no blush or any pink tones, for that matter. Plus, since it’s all about bronzing up your complexion, the latte makeup technique works well on all skin tones.

How to Do Latte Makeup

This look calls fir natural-looking skin, so first apply one sheer layer of your favorite foundation or CC cream. However, Rigler recommends keeping the nose bare, as it gives the illusion that you aren't wearing any makeup on the rest of your face.

After that, apply a cream contour along your hairline, on your cheekbones, and on your jawline, and blend the product out. Next, choose a concealer that is only a shade or two lighter than your actual skin tone (anything too light may take away from the bronzed effect) and apply it on the inner and outer corners of your under eyes, around your nose, on your chin, and on your forehead. Blend with a damp sponge or a stippling brush for a diffused effect, and then set the concealed areas with a translucent setting powder.

Next, apply a powder bronzer to the areas you’ve contoured. Rigler says, “We’re pretty much using this bronzer as a setting powder for the areas we did not use concealer.” After that, you can apply bronzer down the bridge of your nose to up the sun-kissed vibes.

The eye look is all about a subtly smoked shadow, using rich tones and a touch of shimmer. First, use a cool-toned dark brown liquid eyeshadow to create a base, blending the product out across the lid and crease, and connecting the product to the brow bone. Next, apply a warm-toned brown powder eyeshadow over the liquid shadow with a light hand, and then apply a gold shimmer shadow to the inner corner, blending the color up and out to the inner third of the crease. If you want to intensify the bronze, use a broad face highlighting brush to diffuse bronzer from the outer-v of your eye to your temple. After that, Rigler recommends using smoking out the lower lash line with a taupe eyeshadow stick, lining the waterline with a dark brown liner, and lining the outer third of the upper lash line with a dark brown eyeshadow. Finally, finish the eyes with a simple coat of mascara.

And for lips, avoid anything that’s too pink—if you find that your lips are naturally flushed, you can use concealer to mask any rosy tones. Finally, apply a nude lip liner and finish off with a shimmery lip gloss for a look that screams, “Yes, I’m spending all summer at the beach.”

Of course, to recreate a bronzed latte complexion, the trick is not to use the exact products that Rigler (or anyone) uses online—it's to find the best shades for your skin tone and undertones. As Jai puts it in her TikTok video, you can easily get in on the trend by swapping out all the colors for cool browns and taupes if you have cool-toned skin.