Best Makeup for Your Color Palette and Skin Tone 2024
Walking into a makeup store is intimidating as hell. SO MANY OPTIONS!
You browse the displays, try on something that catches your eye, and peek in the mirror - only to realize there is a clown staring back at you. 🤡
So you try a couple more colors, feeling less confident by the minute, until you either settle for the least-sucky option or walk right back out, avoiding eye contact.
Well don’t leave yet: your color analysis besties are on the way!
We’re here to SAVE YOU ENERGY by NARROWING YOUR CHOICES to the makeup that is most likely to work for your skin tone.
Imagine us walking with you through the store, grabbing the best options for you to try.
We’ve organized our recs by season so you can easily sample the best makeup for your skin tone and palette.
Will there be exceptions? Sure.
Might you also look great in a color from another season? Absolutely.
Might some options go wonky in real life and magically turn into a different color from the tube? It’s happened to the best of us.
There will always be trial-and-error involved in the pursuit of makeup you’re obsessed with.
But we’re willing to bet that at least one of our recs can become your “don’t-even-have-to-think-about-it” go-to.
And we’ll help you avoid wasting your time and money on products pretty much guaranteed to NOT work for your undertone.
We’ve further curated lip and blush recs by the depth of skin tone for which each shade is best suited.
As you have likely experienced, lipstick and blush that looks perfectly natural on someone with a deeper skin tone can read completely unnatural on someone with fair skin, and vice versa - even within the same palette.
We are using this beautiful visual by Fenty as a reference for these categories, and you can, too!
Let’s make finding makeup a little less sucky!
Browse our picks by season. It flows from Spring, to Summer, to Autumn, to Winter.
Don’t know your season or undertone? We can help!
We’ve also linked our favorite primers, makeup removers, brushes, and all things brows at the bottom of the blog!
When you shop our guide, we receive a small commission at no cost to you! THANK YOU!
Our team’s makeup faves….
Best makeup for Spring Palettes
Spring makeup colors work best on those with warm to neutral-warm undertones who rock bright colors flawlessly.
Spring Eye Makeup
Spring Eye Palettes: Neutral
Spring Eye Palettes: Colorful
Spring Lipstick + Blush
Deep
Medium-Deep
Medium
Light-Medium
Light
Best makeup for Summer Palettes
Summer makeup colors work best on those with cool to neutral-cool undertones who are flattered by denim and softer shades.
Summer Eye Makeup
Summer Eye Palettes: Neutral
Summer Eye Palettes: Colorful
Summer Lipstick + Blush
Deep
Medium-Deep
Medium
Light-Medium
Light
Best makeup for Autumn Palettes
Autumn makeup colors work best on those with warm to neutral-warm undertones who shine in rich and earthy colors.
Autumn Eye Makeup
Autumn Eye Palettes: Neutral
Autumn Eye Palettes: Colorful
Autumn Lipstick + Blush
Deep
Medium-Deep
Medium
Light-Medium
Light
Best makeup for Winter Palettes
Winter makeup colors work best on those with cool to neutral-cool undertones who are captivating in bold jewel tones.
Winter Eye Makeup
Winter Eye Palettes: Neutral
Winter Eye Palettes: Colorful
Winter Lipstick & Blush
Deep
Medium-Deep
Medium
Light-Medium
Light
Brow products for different hair colors
Blonde
Red
Brown
Dark Brown-Black
Complete your makeup kit:
Face Prep & Primers
Mascara
Removers
Tools
Accessories
Our makeup faves (and a hot take)…
Is lip liner a staple in your makeup kit?
It is for me! Growing up, I watched my mom buy the infamous Mac Chestnut lip liner and I knew I HAD to get my hands on it.
I can rock liner with gloss, lipstick, or both for a cute lip combo! As a woman of color, liner allows me to experiment with colors that I might have otherwise avoided.
Finally, a brow pencil for redheads!
After using nothing but brunette brow products, I’ve finally found a brow pencil made for redheads. If you know, you know. This Strawburn color is perfect: I’ve never felt so seen.
Also, I’m in love with this coraly-bronze blush, which mimics the natural warm pink tones in my skin, another common redhead feature. A lot of foundations hide my skin’s natural pink glow, and I like how this brings it back and makes me feel like me.
For a good color payoff, my go-tos are Urban Decay, Tarte, and Fenty.
Some brands just don’t show up well on deeper skin tones, but these always come through.
Whew! If you got to the end of this, you are one of the real ones, and we should probably be friends.
You’re also gonna want our clothing links by palette. We dish out this free and delicious content on the regular.
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We want this makeup blog to be an ever-more-helpful and inclusive resource (it’s pretty ambitious giving makeup recs to EVERYONE, right?), and we would love your feedback to help us get there!
If one of our recs is a big flop on your skin tone in real life, please DM us on instagram so we can keep these as relevant as possible! Also, if you fall in love with something we suggested, let us know and send a pic so we can celebrate with you!
We wish you the makeup bag of your dreams!
