Deep Autumn makeup: rich lip, blush and eye colors

Why this season can carry a deep lip

A dark lip is a big move on most faces. It becomes the darkest thing in the picture, by a wide margin. On Deep Autumn coloring it has company. Our palette runs almost down to black, and 35% of it is dark. Oxblood sits comfortably inside that range. On a Soft Autumn it would be clearly darker than anything on the board, where the darkest color is soft mahogany, and True Autumn’s darkest color only just gets there.

There’s a nice way to see this with the tool itself. The lipstick finder has nine fixed chips, using a face landmark model to place them on your lips. None was chosen for any season, so they make a fair test.

Within our line for close, Soft Autumn’s board reaches two of the nine, True Autumn’s three, and Deep Autumn’s seven. Part of that is that this palette holds both vivid and quiet colors, in the same board. The lesson is that you have far more lipsticks available than the other two autumns. The closest chip is Plum, and it’s worth starting there. How close is a rough measure, a small difference means little, and a chip isn’t a product.

The lip ramp, from light to dark

The picture at the top sorts them by depth. Our data calls for deep brick, chestnut and warm berry. Here’s how those split up in practice:

Under each warm lip in the picture sits a cooler color at a similar depth, nearly all from Deep Winter. That row is the most useful comparison on this page, because the two deep seasons differ mostly in temperature. Hold Earth Cardinal and Cool Red up side by side, or flip between similar chips in the lipstick finder. If the blue-based one makes your skin look clearer, you may be a Deep Winter. If it makes your skin look grey or your lips look painted on, stay here.

What looks too cool, and what looks too pale

• Too cool: blue-reds and wine shades like Cranberry and Winter Burgundy. They’re gorgeous, and they’re the other season’s. On warm skin they tend to separate from the face.
• Too pale: our avoid list is all pale, with Pastel Pink, Icy Lilac and Baby Blue. A frosted pink lip or an icy lilac lid is the makeup version of the same mistake.
• Too grey: Silver Grey and anything sold as a cool taupe. The eye area goes flat next to warm brown eyes.

L’Oréal Paris gives high-contrast faces similar advice in its piece on contrast makeup: steer clear of very pale colors, lean into rich hues such as plums, chocolates and crimsons, and keep the focus on one feature. That’s a popular theory, and it happens to fit this palette.

On your skin depth

This season gets described as dark, and people assume that means dark skin. Soul of Color says skin may be dark or medium with warm to neutral undertones, and that the main quality is depth for the person. That leaves room for a fair person with near-black hair too. A given lip behaves very differently across those faces.

At Monk 3, Oxblood is a huge step, so let it be the one event and keep everything else quiet. At Monk 6, Rosy Clay all but merges with the skin, which is what a nude is for, and Copper Red reads by color more than by depth. Around Monk 8 to 10, the steps shrink for the deep lips: an oxblood may read as a tonal, velvety mouth and not as a dark lip at all. That’s a beautiful effect if you want it. If you want more edge, go toward Earth Cardinal or Deep Coral, which stand out through strength of color. Stephen and McKeegan’s 2010 lip color study used a Caucasian sample, so it won’t settle this for you. Trust a photo in daylight.

Cheeks

Warm terracotta or burnished peach are the directions. Clay Peach and Fired Terracotta do this on light and medium skin. Deep skin can carry Deep Coral or Cinnamon, blended outward. A warm bronzer is fine here, unlike on the summer seasons, and most Deep Autumns can skip pink blush altogether. If a blush looks muddy, it’s probably too close to your skin in lightness, so try a step more color instead of a step darker.

Eyes

On liner, our data says dark brown or soft black, so this is one of the few seasons where a black pencil is a fair choice. Black Brown is warmer and softer. Compare the two at your lash line in daylight, and if you see no difference, use whichever you own.

Brows and base

e.l.f.’s brow guide says dark hair calls for dark brown to black brow products, and that very dark products can look too bold on fair skin. Here, Walnut and Espresso cover most people, and Black Brown suits near-black hair. On foundation, the season doesn’t pick the shade, your skin does. Soul of Color describes golden, olive or bronze tones in the skin, so W or N on the label is likely, as L’Oréal Paris explains those labels. Watch for shades that turn ashy on deep skin, and start from the shade finder.

Two finished looks

The wider season is on the Deep Autumn palette page, and the celebrities page shows who gets typed here and how shaky those typings are. Seasons are a convention, so wear the cool red if you love it. The Full Color Report includes makeup shades chosen for your own palette.

Copy every shade

These hexes belong to our palette. No brand’s lipstick is promised to match one, so compare in daylight before you buy.

Related guides and tools

• PaletteDeep AutumnDark and warm: rich colors with hex codes and a free scan to check them on you.
• GuideDeep Autumn celebritiesWho is commonly typed Deep Autumn or Dark Autumn, sourced, and how they differ from Deep Winter.
• GuideDeep Winter makeupBlue-based reds, cool blush and dark eyes, with hex codes and a live lipstick test.