In case you're wondering what's making waves in the beautysphere over on TikTok, there's a new up-and-comer rising to steal the spotlight. “Latte makeup” or “latte girl makeup” is taking over from where the Vanilla girl left off.
For the uninitiated, the vanilla girl aesthetic was all about luxe, cosy minimalism, centred around airy, neutral colours like white, beige, cream and vanilla. And while it mainly applied to outfits (think: linen shirts, soft bed shorts and cashmere cardigans), the latte girl is bringing bronzy, beachy vibes to your makeup.
What is latte makeup?
Latte makeup centres around warm brown tones like caramel, tan, cocoa, buff and amber applied across eyes, cheeks and lips – and you're outfits, too, if you want to co-ordinate. It leans into the monochrome makeup look but with sunkissed shades that are perfect for summer. And, it works across all skin tones, you simply have to edit the undertones with lighter or deeper renditions of the key colours.
The #lattemakeup started to pick up attention after creator Rachel Rigler posted a video about the trend on TikTok. “We're gonna call this ‘latte makeup,’” she said in a video sharing bronzy beauty inspo. Since then, the hashtag has has more than 88.4 million hits.
“It's warm and bronzy, milky and effortless,” she summarised, before sharing a top tip to making the whole thing look more natural. Use minimal coverage, she advised. “We're gonna avoid the nose because I have some freckles on my nose. When you avoid makeup on your nose it gives off the illusion that you're not wearing as much makeup as you are,” she said.
Already, the trend is picking up celebrity fans, like Hailey Bieber, who posted a picture with the caption “latte makeup 🥛☕️☕️ but make it head 2 toe 🧸” on her Instagram. In the photo, Hailey stuck to warm brown tones across her eyes, cheeks and lips which she paired with a golden brown cut-out bandeau dress and golden earrings, to tie the whole look together.
How to create the latte makeup look?
As for how to recreate the looks referenced in the video, Tanielle Jai, the makeup artist behind a lot of the inspo pics, tapped in to share her expertise. “Hello, I'm Tanielle Jai, I created these makeup looks,” she said in a video posted to her TikTok and Instagram. “They are ‘latte looks’ i.e bronze goddess, summer smoky kind of vibes. So let me tell you how I do these looks,” she said.
She offered a bit of context: “these were mostly for a brand called Cendre, a jewellery brand, and we're all about those bronze, warm, caramel tones. That's the key: caramel,” Tanielle explained.
Tanielle went in first with the Iconic London Radiance Booster tinted moisturiser. “This goes all around the outside of the face and the important thing with latte makeup is, it's a monochromatic, caramel look. So we're going for yellow-based products. We're staying away from red tones,” she said, noting “I'm not really gonna use foundation.”
She used her bronzer to contour her cheekbones as well as “through the eyes and up. I always use bronzer on the eyes,” she explained. “We're taking the bronzer on that lower lash line, too… all around the eyes and it's going to open up the eyes. Now we add dimension using some concealer and blend,” she demonstrated.
As for products, Tanielle recommends experimenting with formulas. “When it comes to eyes, I actually like to use a lip liner often times – like Cork or Oak [from MAC]. I choose a colour that's like a nude brown, so it's a little bit lighter than your usual brow pencil. I'm just gonna take that all along the lower lash line and wing it out, taking it through the crease and blending it out with my little crease and apply brush.”
As for eyeshadow, she recommends the shade Bask from the Sigma Ambiance palette. “If you're looking for deeper shades [try the] Gemini palette from Melt cosmetics,” she adds. “These browns are the perfect yellow brown. I'm just going to blend all over the top of that bronzer and pencil liner, all the way into the brow. Use a smaller brush on the lower lash line. You've really gotta smoke up the inner corner here. It gives that really sultry look that really opens up the eyes. If you have downturned eyes like myself, I like to focus in here, more than the outer corner,” she advises.
And while, Tanielle is a big fan of a matte eye look (so you could stop right there), if you want a “smidge of shimmery texture, pop it just in the centre,” she says. If you're going in with an eyeliner, “for a latte look, you want to stay away from black eyeliner and stay with browns,” she says. “Because I have a slight downturn, I'm going to add a little wedge of this pencil eyeliner [in the outer corner]. It's just going to add a bit of lift [but] you can leave that out,” she adds.
Next Tanielle applied mascara to her top lashes “lots of it,” she says. “I'm adding a touch of shimmer just in the inner corner, but you don't want to use a stark colour, just something quite natural to your skin tone. No bottom mascara because I want to keep it nice and feline,” she says. And to finish off your complexion, “you can add freckles to give you that summery kind of look,” Tanielle says. And add “a teeny bit of powder just in the centre. I've still got the glow, but it's not crazy,” she recommends.
To finish the look off “I'm using a honey coloured lip liner pencil,” Tanielle says, who advises finding a yellowy brown shade. “Oak is one of my favourites, or Cork from MAC. They're both really beautiful,” she says. “And then I use a really nice nude lipstick in the centre. And that's how you do it. That's how you do the latte look.”
Want in? We have more inspo for the latte makeup look below…
Glossy lip latte makeup
Sunkissed latte makeup
Beach bronze latte makeup
Sixties liner latte makeup
Siren eyes latte makeup
Softly smoked latte makeup
Gilded latte makeup
Winged latte makeup
Ultra defined latte eyes
Seventies latte makeup
Sunlit latte makeup
For more from GLAMOUR's Beauty Editor, Elle Turner, follow her on Instagram @elleturneruk
This feature was originally published 3rd July 2023.
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