This post may contain affiliate links that support the site at no cost to you. 

Okay, we’ve talked a bunch about soft summer beauty so far! We covered soft summer nails and soft summer hair colors. Today, let’s dive into our eye makeup colors.

(Update: since this post, I also wrote about my holy grail soft summer nail polish color, and how to adjust foundation for a soft summer!)

The soft summer palette is so beautiful, but it can be a little tough to buy for. (Does every palette think that?!) The soft summer color palette that’s going to enhance your natural beauty is soft, muted, and has moderate contrast from the depth of your skin tone. Soft summer makeup ideas should enhance these traits!

(I do plan to write similar guides for light summer and cool summer. In the meantime, your shades are going to be similar to these. Light summers want less contrast, and cool summers can go less muted.)

At the top of this guide, you’ll get some links and suggestions to help you either buy the right shades or to train your eye a little bit to what you should be looking for. At the bottom is some tips for how to look at the makeup you already own to find the flattering products you already have. 

Let’s get into the soft summer makeup ideas!

How this guide is different

A lot of what’s out there for color analysis makeup recommendations will show you colors that are great for summer seasons, but not recommend products. And when you’re just getting started with color analysis, your eye isn’t really trained yet to recognize coolness or mutedness. So it’s hard to go out and match those colors in products you can actually purchase. 

I found this so FRUSTRATING when I was first searching for soft summer makeup products. So this is a list that I hope to keep building out as I go on of makeup products that you can actually just go buy without having to get a Ph.D. in color analysis. 

(I should mention at this point that I am not an expert, just an enthusiast! Currently, I only write about summer seasons because I’m a soft summer and that’s what I know. I don’t feel knowledgeable enough at this point to write about any other season except maybe soft autumn.) 

This guide is also different because we’re specifically including women of color! A lot of writing out there talks about ‘value’ of a color for summers. Like, a soft summer should be wearing colors in the middle of the value scale. And, like, that’s true…if you’re white. For women of color, the middle of the value scale may not provide enough contrast. So, as we work through this topic, we’re going to bear in mind that soft summers come from every race and in every shade, and they’re going to look their best with moderate contrast that’s a few shades lighter or darker than their skin tone. 

Soft summer makeup ideas should include every woman! So this post will suggest tweaks for your own coloring.

Best eye makeup for soft summer

Mascara

Okay, let’s start with the easy stuff: if you are a white soft summer, you are probably better off with brown mascara. 

Nobody ever wants to hear this. But give it a shot. You can still get an extending, volumizing, magnfying, whatever type of formula. But brown is the more natural-looking, enhancing color for light, soft summer eyes. 

I buy this inexpensive Maybelline mascara in True Brown and like it enough that I’ve never bothered to try another. (Honestly, I never bought another one because I didn’t want to decide I preferred one that cost four times as much!) I cheaped out on it at first because I had already pre-decided that brown mascara was going to look terrible. I didn’t want to waste money on it if I was going to go straight back to black.

Of course, it looked so much less harsh, and I loved it. 

The Maybelline product gives my preferred lash look, which is slightly lengthening and very defined. 

​e.l.f. also makes a brown mascara that is a tubing mascara, if you prefer that look. 

 

And the Too Faced Better than Sex mascara comes in brown now too! They call the color Chocolate. This is also a great product that focuses on volumizing. This is a cult product for a reason, and if you like that very done look, you can get it from this product. 

This has got to be one of the least popular soft summer makeup ideas, but honestly it is going to look so lovely and natural for you.

If your coloring is deeper and your eyelashes are naturally black, go ahead and stick with black mascara or lashes! It’s an extension of your natural features, and it’s going to look right on you. 

Lash extensions soft summer

If you prefer lash extensions instead of mascara, consider trying them in dark brown! Your lash tech will probably need to special order them, so call ahead and communicate what you need. If you DIY your lash extensions or do temporary ones like Lashify, you can buy those in brown too! 

Lashify’s brown lashes are also called ‘chocolate’. They also have a colorway that is a mix of brown and black called ‘truffle’, if that better suits you. If you’re not ready to give up black lashes just yet! 

Eyeliner and eyeshadow

Okay, so our basic premises here, again: cool, muted, and 1-2 shades away from your skin tone. The best soft summer makeup ideas will look like something’s there, but not a ton of contrast.

So we’re looking for something with 

• blue undertones, 
• soft/grey tones rather than bright colors or clear colors, 
• and a color that gives a moderate contrast from your skin: not super light or dark colors (whatever that means for your skin tone) but not a flesh tone either.

It’s worth noting that ‘muted’ here does not mean matte! Rather, it means a color that is not clear, that has some grey in it. It’s the difference between these two colors: 

They’re similar shades and they both have medium value, but one has grey mixed in, and that makes it muted. It can be really hard to identify a muted color at first. It gets easier, I promise. 

In the meantime: or eyeliner colours and eyeshadow colours, we’re looking to avoid warm tones and bright colors, which are going to look wrong on you. 

 Etude has a palette called Dusty Cat that has some lovely cool toned pinks and taupes. This palette runs lighter than some of the others in this list, with lots of cool pinks. It’s a Korean brand, and they’re more sheer than we may be used to. Probably suited to lighter-skinned girls who prefer more natural looks. 

If you like shimmer, or you need something you can grab in the drugstore, Covergirl has a palette called ‘Roses’ in its Trunaked line. (That branding took me forever to figure out but I guess it’s supposed to say ‘Tru Naked’….). It’s all shimmer! Don’t buy it if you don’t like shimmer! But sometimes shimmer is really forgiving when we’re working on building our own custom palette. It’s not as obviously the right color or the wrong color because of the way it reflects. 

 

Another option you can find in a drugstore! e.l.f. Perfect 10 in Nude Rose Gold is going to be cool enough and is quite muted! This one has a mix of shimmers and satins that might be a little more useful, and it runs towards darker colours than the palette above! 

The Naked palette for cool-toned girls! You probably remember the mania when the first Naked palette was released.  Urban Decay eyeshadows are very pigmented, so it’ll be a different experience if you’re used to more sheer/easily mixed shades. But the result can be undeniable! If you’re a smoky eye type of girl, this is a great option.

If you’re open to single-color options, I love a taupe. 

 

This Julep eyeshadow is the loveliest, creamiest product… I linked the Taupe Shimmer (#4 in the list) which is the one I have–such a lovely cool summer shade with some depth to it. I’m fair-skinned and this is a night-out color for me, but for someone with darker skin it would work easily for everyday. 

Other soft summer-friendly colors in this line: Stone Matte (06), Blush Metallic (19), Smoky Grey Shimmer (20), Rainstorm Shimmer (22), Lavender Matte (37), Sapphire Shimmer (40), Midnight Blue Shimmer (41), and Waterlily Matte (53). There’s going to be a shade for every skin tone in this list — remember, you’re looking for moderate contrast, so not the same as your skin color. 

If you are new to makeup, these Julep options are as easy as it gets. No brushes, no blending, just slick it on and then spread it with your finger. I have the Taupe Shimmer and that puppy stays put. 

And listen — there’s a palette from a brand called Erinde on Amazon that has some great-looking soft summer cool shades, but I can’t verify the existence of the brand outside of Amazon, Aliexpress, and social media. This suggests to me that it’s being dropshipped from Aliexpress, which I really don’t like for makeup. US brands are held to certain standards of what ingredients can and can’t be used. (The same is true in the UK, EU, Korea, etc.)

If you buy dropshipped makeup, you have no idea what’s in it. You can search up the brand if you want to, but I would not suggest that you buy it. It’s not even cheaper than all the products in this list, and it’s going near your eyes.

Eyeliners

Okay, so, when we were looking at mascara I just said ‘brown’ for light-skinned summers, because there’s no such thing as cool-toned mascara. (Yet. Give it three years.)

And if you’re wearing black mascara because your natural lashes are black, you can line your lashes with black eyeliner and it’s going to look totally fine.  For “statement” eyeliner that’s thicker, consider looking at these colors. 

 But with your eyeliner, regardless of what color your mascara is or what color your skin is, you want to be attentive to undertone. Cool-toned brown eyeliners are out there, so that’s what we should be reaching for. 

And of course you can reach for a liner brush and turn any of the above eyeshadows into liners! That’s almost always what I end up doing. But if you want some specific eyeliner products, you got it. 

​This pigmented grey-brown CLIO eyeliner is about as close to black as a soft summer should be. It’s very pigmented and has a lot of grey in it! It’s just personal preferences, but I like this better than brown on me. 

Navy can also be a great option for soft summers of any color. It’s still going to give you the contrast, but it won’t feel like harsh lines the way that black sometimes does. 

And Julep does eyeliner pencils too — it may look really similar to what I linked for eyeshadow. But really I just think they do a great job making really pretty cool tones, and I think the shimmer really helps because it removes the question of mutedness from the product! There are a lot of good statement colors for soft summers here too. (Even though you’ll never see that in soft summer styling photos online, but that’s a different conversation.) The Smoky Taupe, Silver Shimmer, and Pastel Violet are all gorgeous soft summer colors. Graphite is a great near-neutral too. 

(People also love the Julep sharpener enough that I think I gotta get one.)

Okay, now let’s look at the makeup you already own: 

First: anything that you truly love to wear — just wear it. Wear the team colors to your kid’s game. Wear the bright orange eye shadow your cousin wants her bridesmaids in for some reason. You were not put on this earth to present a harmonious look 100% of the time. 

Makeup should make you happy. And if a “wrong” color makes you happy, go with that. 

But most of us are here to feel confident in our soft summer colours, most of the time. Just remember that your seasonal color palettes are the best way, but not the only way. We aren’t a cult here.  

Okay, grab your makeup. 

First: try to identify the stuff that has warm undertones or yellow undertones. 

Unfortunately for me, that was 90% of my makeup when I started with this. I didn’t gravitate towards things with cool undertones. And honestly, the majority of eye make-up colours sold are warm. I don’t know why this is! It’s nearly impossible to find a neutrals palette that runs cool.

(I know you know this, because you bothered to read this post!)

For now, don’t lose your mind about the difference between neutral and cool colors. (Soft summers look better in cool, but we carry neutral okay. This is not true of our light summer and cool summer sisters!) Just focus on getting the very warm colors out of your collection. 

(And remember — if you love it, just keep it!) 

Second: filter out clear matte colors.

Okay: you honestly have a little more wiggle room than people let on here. 

Your BEST colors are going to be muted shades with grey mixed into them. Totally.

But shimmer and glitter colors are very forgiving when the color is clear. It’s not as visually obvious that the color isn’t muted when there’s movement on it. 

If there’s a matte finish? You should consider parting with your clear colors. But if you think you might be able to get away with it, maybe hang onto that product for now. 

(Also: the better you are at makeup, the easier it is to use products that aren’t technically “right” for soft summer skin tones. If you can blend it with other colors that are in the palette, you can often make it work. So consider your skill level too!)

Third: consider your contrast level (a little bit)

Soft summers should have moderate contrast, so you’re looking at your remaining makeup for colors that are 1-2 shades away from your skin tone. Those are your “best” colors. 

But!! You might still want a high contrast look sometimes. You might want more contrast at night. Your personal style might run a little goth-y, requiring contrast. You might want less contrast at times, or to de-emphasize contrast in your eyeshadow to play it up in your lips or cheeks. 

Don’t throw any makeup out in this step. Just use it to shape your thinking about what is a “best” choice for you. 

​I got to the end and I don’t have any eye makeup left! 

If you want an excuse to go shopping, you got one. 

If you don’t want to or can’t go shopping right now, go back and pick the best of what you have. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just removing warmth or just using muted colors is going to be an improvement, and you can buy things in your palette as you need to replace them! 

I hate to see people get into seasonal color analysis and spend money they don’t have! Most people can’t go out and buy a whole soft summer wardrobe the second they get typed. So pick the best of what you have, and buy thoughtfully as you move forward. Take these soft summer makeup ideas and use what you can for now.

(I was planning to do everything in this post but it got SO long and blush gets SO complicated so I’m going to make it two posts. See you soon, soft summers!)

Pin these soft summer makeup ideas to come back to later!