Espresso makeup is the richer take on the latte look

Latte makeup may have bridged the gap from summer to autumn, but “Espresso Makeup” is here to give us a deeper, darker, sultrier rendition of the look to take us into winter, and it’s perfect if a moodier grunge glam aesthetic is more your vibe.

Just in case you need a recap, latte makeup saw warm-toned mid browns in toasted golds and caramels take off, but now we’re heading into bitter chocolate and dark coffee bean territory.

Never one to miss a viral beauty moment, Hailey Bieber is already on top of the trend. She timed her four Rhode Peptide Lip Tints to perfection with each tapping into a different trending aesthetic. “Toast” a rose taupe leans very much into the latte movement (above). Ribbon, a sheer pink, is here for the balletcore and coquettecore girls. Raspberry Jelly, a cherry red, offers a winter rendition for strawberry girls. And the final shade, Espresso, is a sheer dark brown that’s grungey and cosy in equal measure.

Over on TikTok #EspressoMakeup has over 52.3 million hits and Hailey’s lip tint features heavily.

But TikTok content creator, Danielle Marcan, who posted her own take on the trend described it as the “the grunge sister of the latte makeup” in her video.

“The latte makeup is a huge trend right now, but let’s try and do an espresso makeup,” she said. “For this look the skin is demi-matte and sheer, so I’m going in with a skin tint,” Danielle added, applying the L’Oreal True Match Tint and a little of the Nars Creamy Radiant Concealer.

“The focus is all on the eyes but we want the skin to be even. A lot of bronzing and contouring as well,” she explained, using the Nudestix contour stick. “I’m only gonna bake under my eyes and around the T-zone and then on the rest of the face I’m just dusting some powder. But don’t apply to much because you still want to see this radiance, like a demi-matte finish,” said Danielle. For this she used the Givenchy Prisme Libre powder. “I’m then going over with a contour shade, this is Back To Bronze by L’Oreal Paris and I’m using this as a blush.”

“Now the fun part, for the eyes, we’re going to start with a brown pencil [Danielle used the L’Oreal Paris Paradise Kohl Pencil in Pure Espresso]. I’m just going over half of my lid and then just blend it. Same for the lower lid. Then take a cocoa shade eyeshadow [Danielle used the Too Faced Born This Way Sunset Stripped Palette] and then set this and bring it up to your brow. Then you’re gonna need a black pencil [Danielle used the YSL Beauty Crushliner]. Create a flick at the end of your eye and just contour your eye. Add it to your waterline, too. And then we’re gonna smudge it,” she said.

“We’re gonna need a lot of mascara,” she added, using the Lancome Hypnose mascara. “For your lips I want the brown shade so I’m using my brow pencil [Valentino Beauty Brow Trio in Taupe] and a nude lipstick [MAC Thanks It’s MAC lipstick]. And this is it, the espresso makeup,” Danielle explained.

So, if you’re looking for a darker spin on TikTok’s current fave, latte makeup, espresso makeup is winning for us. Here’s some more inspo to check out…

Espresso waterline

Espresso smoky eye

Espresso ombre lip

Sheer espresso

For more from GLAMOUR’s Beauty Editor, Elle Turner, follow her on Instagram @elleturneruk