Red is shaping up to be a beauty favourite with the cherry makeup aesthetic, scoring over 30 million views on TikTok. Photo: AFP
After strawberry makeup, here comes cherry makeup, a bold, uplifting beauty look that puts red centre stage as a current star colour. From eyes to nails, lips to cheeks, anything goes, so long as you don't overdo it.
Red or orange, the choice is yours. While pumpkin spice makeup, directly inspired by the drink of (almost) the same name, looked poised to be the current star look, cherry makeup is shaping up to be a strong contender.
For several months, the beauty world has been fascinated by all things edible, especially fruit and drinks. This was seen with latte makeup, a major beauty look of the summer, as well as with strawberry makeup and chai latte nails.
These unusual and intriguing names usually boil down to little more than spotlighting a specific colour. And this is also the case with cherry makeup, which focuses on red – in all its forms – as one of the season's leading shades.
Read more: The 'science-based' makeup contouring trend is believed to give perfect results
A rainbow of red
There's plenty to suggest that red could stand out as the star colour of the season. For starters, it was seen all over the runways of the Autumn/Winter 2023 shows.
Christian Siriano, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci were just some of the fashion houses that opted for makeup looks dominated by this hue synonymous with audacity and passion.
It then emerged on social networks with the trend for cherry cola lips, a lipstick shade directly inspired by the famous soda.
Four months later, it has become one of the season's leading makeup trends, adorning eyes, lips, nails and cheeks. And the look seems to be gaining interest around the world, as the #cherrymakeup hashtag already has over 30 million views on TikTok.
However, there are a few rules to follow before embracing cherry makeup: the idea is to achieve a bold, glamorous beauty look, while remaining as natural as possible.
It is therefore advisable to choose one zone – possibly two, but no more – on which to apply red.
This could be the eyes, via eyeshadow or eyeliner, the cheeks, or the lips, via pencil, gloss or matte lipstick. Only nail polish, whatever shade of red you choose, should then be coordinated with the facial feature in question.
Be warned: using too much red will kill the look!
Another important point is that cherry red is one of the most popular shades for this trend, although carmine, vermilion, tomato and poppy red shades also do the trick.
But on social networks, and TikTok in particular, users are gradually turning to darker reds, more in keeping with the season.
The popularity of purple-reds, garnet, burgundy, mahogany, maroon and even deep black/red shades is soaring, as evidenced by the emerging black cherry makeup trend. Once you've mastered these two rules, you can give free rein to your creativity.
Read more: Don't skip steps! Remember to mask up for clearer and healthier skin
Pumpkin spice vs cherry
The Autumn 2023 season seems to have two strong makeup trends: pumpkin spice makeup, dominated by orange hues, and cherry makeup, focusing on shades of red.
It remains to be seen which will dominate. For the moment, the former seems to have the upper hand, already proving a hit on social networks (over 50 million views) and even establishing itself in other areas of beauty.
Nail varnish, for example, is getting in on the act, with shades inspired by Starbucks' famous pumpkin spice drink, and hair colouration and face masks are following suit.
In the UK, the craze is such that the SpaSeekers platform hopes to organise the first pumpkin spice latte spa day later in the season season.
This will include a hot tub experience spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin puree and a drop of coffee, as well as a pumpkin-themed facial and massage. – AFP Relaxnews
