Fast and Flirty Valentine’s Day Makeup Tutorial: A Romantic Monochromatic Soft Peach Look for All Skill Levels

In the interest of fairness, seeing as how we have Valentine’s Day to celebrate lurve, and Galentine’s Day for your gal pals, shouldn’t there also be a holiday to commemorate V-Day for cat lovers and our cats? Like Feline-en-tine’s Day? Or Cat-en-tine’s Day?

Ooh! — I’ve got it. Meow-entine’s Day! ? ? Happy Meow-entine’s Day, fellow cat ladies, LOL!

Valentine’s Day is a few weeks away, a fact that occurred to me at 7:55 p.m. the other night at See’s Candy (5 minutes before closing), where I went on an emergency last-minute chocolate run.

They had their heart-shaped candy boxes on full display, and it was like a sudden cocoa-infused wake-up call that this is a perfect time for romantic, soft makeup looks. I think this monochromatic peach one would be great for a daytime date, or an evening date, or a date that goes from day to night, ooh-la-la!

Why I ? monochromatic makeup

Because it takes the aspect of color coordinating, and figuring out if this purple goes with that bronze, or if this pink goes with that teal, out of the picture and makes it easy to use multiple (but related) colors together (i.e., so you don’t have to think too hard).

But I really ? monochromatic makeup with a twist!

Instead of just being a peach-on-peach-on-peach party on the eyes, cheeks and lips, this look also relies on subtle transitions and different cream and powder textures, matte and satin finishes, and varying levels of coverage and intensity.

On the eyes, matte and satin powder eyeshadows are layered on top of a cream shadow, and the cheeks and lips are both sporting the same peach color and cream finish, except that the cheeks are sheer, and the lips are opaque. And the creaminess of the blush and lipstick also plays off the matte areas of the skin.

Sheer skin for balance

My foundation is purposefully sheer in this look because, with all of the drama happening on my eyes and the opaque lip, I feel like the face, cheeks and lips need to dial it back a bit to keep everything looking balanced.

A 15-minute look from start to finish

The choice to do sheer skin is also a timing thing, because I’m still really into makeup looks that I can finish in 15 minutes or less, and doing sheer skin saves lots of time and lets me spend most of it on my eyes.

What you’ll need

Here are the products I used…

FACE PRODUCTS

• Face primer (Urban Decay Urban Defense Complexion Primer)
• Sheer face tint, or a CC or BB cream (Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Tint in Honey)
• Makeup setting spray (MAC Fix+)
• Powder foundation (Sweat Cosmetics Mineral Foundation in 200)
• Concealer for your under eye area, if you want (MAC Matchmaster Concealer in 4)
• Cream peach lipstick (MAC Lunar New Year Lipstick in Good Health, an LE shade available now online and at select MAC counters)

EYE MAKEUP

• Brow gel, either clear or a color that matches your brows (Hourglass Arch Brow Volumizing Gel in Warm Brown)
• Cream stick shadow similar to your skin tone (MAC Pro Longwear Waterproof Colour Stick in Sand Bar)
• Three powder eyeshadows: a matte peach eyeshadow, a matte taupe and satiny bronzy brown (MAC Lunar New Year Eye Shadow X9 in Luck and Fortune, an LE palette available now at select MAC counters)
• Two pencil eyeliners: a black and a bronzy brown (Chanel 88 Noir Intense and MAC Costa Riche)
• Mascara (Tarte Lights Camera Lashes)

Let’s get started

First, you’ll be bouncing back and forth between working on your face and working on your eyes, because when every minute/second counts, you gotta multitask. But it won’t be stressful or scary, I promise. 🙂

1. Apply a face primer

On that note, start by applying a face primer, and I like smoothing primers that mellow out my pores because I’m a 40-something gal, and I could use a little help in that department.

As you do your eyes, your face primer will have time to sink in and dry, so, later, when you apply your face products, you won’t have any wet spots from the primer, ensuring that your face tint, cream blush, etc. will look even.

2. Fill in your brows with gel

OK, eyes! Begin by filling in your brows with a brow gel. I like the softer, less structured look of a brow gel (vs. a pencil) for this particular style of makeup because I think it suits soft, romantic makeup well.

3. Apply a cream shadow on your lids

Take a creamy shadow stick in a shade similar to your skin tone, and apply it all over your lids, blending with your fingers or a brush.

4. Mix your peach and taupe powder eyeshadows, and apply them to lids

Now, load a flat eyeshadow brush with the matte peach and matte taupe shadows… Don’t put it your lids yet, though!

First, mix the shadows on the back of your hand, and gently push the pigment into the bristles of your brush to distribute it evenly in/on the brush head. Next, apply the mix directly on top of the cream shadow on your lids, starting at your lash line and moving up into the crease.

You can take it up as far as you want. It’s totally up to you. For my eyes, and because I have a semi-hooded eye situation happening, I like to do a half moon shape.

5. Blend out the edges of the eyeshadow on your lids using a tapered blending brush loaded with taupe matte eyeshadow

Next, take a tapered eyeshadow brush, load it with your taupe matte shadow, and blend out the edges of the peach/taupe mix you just applied.

(Tip: Use a light touch when you do this so you aren’t just pushing the shadow into your skin and making the blending tougher than it needs to be.)

6. Line your upper lash and water lines with black pencil liner

Note: It doesn’t have to be neat.

7. Smudge the black liner on your upper lash line using a smudge brush loaded with a satiny brown eyeshadow

I usually like to smudge it into the outer corner and my outer crease to sort of create the illusion of a deeper set eye.

8. Using your flat eyeshadow brush again, load it with your peach/taupe eyeshadow mix, and pat it directly on top of the smudged liner to soften the edges and blend it into your lid color

At this point, some of the black liner will have transferred down onto your lower lash and water lines, but don’t worry about cleaning it up. Leave it there ’cause you’re going to use that.

9. Line your lower lash and water lines with your brown pencil liner

And again, this doesn’t have to be neat. Just layer it directly on top of the black liner.

10. Blend the black and brown liners together on your lower lash line by running the smudge brush you used earlier (without any additional product) along your lower lash line

11. Gently run the flat eyeshadow brush you used earlier (without putting any additional product on it) along your lower lash line

The leftover eyeshadow on the bristles will soften and diffuse the edge of the liner.

If your lower lash line color is creeping down into your under-eye area more than you’d like, clean the edges with a little cream on a Q-tip, and scoot them closer to your lash lines.

I tend to keep the liner pretty close to my lower lashes because the farther you drag it down, the more rock ‘n’ roll this look goes, which is fine, depending on what you want, but I wanted this version to be more romantic than bad-@ss.

12. Finish the eyes with mascara

You’re almost done! Before we continue, check your time… If you gave yourself 15 minutes, you should have about 5 left for the rest of your look.

Yes, the rest of the steps are totally doable in 5 minutes. 🙂

13. Apply and blend a face tint

Remember the face primer you applied at the beginning? It should be dry now (hopefully), so apply your sheer face tint either all over, or just on the areas where you want some extra coverage, and blend it with your fingers, a sponge or a brush.

The tint I’m using here has a doe foot, so I use it to draw messy stripes on my cheeks, forehead, nose — basically all over. Then I wet a synthetic brush with a makeup setting spray, and use that to blend the tint.

14. Apply under-eye concealer

You got this. 🙂

15. Set your tint with powder foundation

Set your tint with a matte powder foundation, but don’t apply any on the apples of your cheeks because you’ll be applying a cream blush (and blending a cream blush is easier when there isn’t a layer of powder underneath it).

I prefer to apply the powder foundation using a small pointed face brush because they’re precise, and I can put the powder exactly where I want it, which is usually just on the center of my forehead, down the sides of my nose, right underneath the apples of my cheeks, around my mouth and on my chin.

16. Lipstick!

Apply your opaque creamy peach lipstick to your lips.

17. Lipstick again! (Only this time using it as a cream blush on your cheeks)

Now, put some lipstick on the back of your hand (like in a big swatch), and take whatever tool you used to blend your foundation, and load it with the lipstick on the back of your hand. Then dab — don’t swipe! — it directly on the apples of your cheeks.

18. Optional: Apply another layer of mascara

But if you don’t want to do that, you’re done!

There you have it. 🙂 A soft, romantic monochromatic peach makeup look for Valentine’s, Galentine’s or Meow-entine’s Day!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen