"I'm Cold" Makeup Makes You Look Like Cindy Loo Who — In The Best Way

Leave it to BeautyTok to figure out how to make a windburned face look chic. Enter: the “I’m cold” makeup trend. With precisely placed blush, beauty lovers on TikTok are mimicking that muted, rosy-toned hue that people with paler skin tones tend to pick up on their faces — especially around their cheeks and noses — after a long time spent outside in brisk weather. It’s the seasonal evolution of “sunburn blush,” and trust me, it’s cuter than it may sound.

“Blush is back, and it’s not just for cheeks anymore,” celebrity and editorial makeup artist Aaron Paul says. “Remember seeing your mom or grandmother sweep blush onto their temples and over their eyeshadow?” Basically, that’s the vibe of the “I’m cold” makeup trend. It’s heavy on the flush and low on the glow. It exudes the aura of a Hallmark Christmas movie and makes you look like you’ve been walking around in a blizzard — and it’s really easy to achieve.

To start, the key is an ultra-matte base and finish. (After all, you’re not doing much glistening and glowing in nippy wintertime weather.) To achieve this, celebrity makeup artist Renée Loiz likes to go in with a blurring base powder. From there, the artists say to reach for cool-toned blushes (think pinks, oranges, berries); you can layer different hues or build with one color.

For application, celebrity and editorial makeup artist Chelsea Gehr says you’ll want to grab a brush. “Start at the apples of your cheeks and stipple with a smaller blush brush, outward and upward,” she tells Bustle. Then, glide your brush back and forth over your face, making sure to hit the sides and tip of your nose. “I also like to dust the same blush over my eyelids just once so that it marries my rosy cheeks and nose,” Gehr says.

TikTok user @zoekimkenealy also likes to swipe blush over her cupid’s bow, pat in more setting powder on top, and pull it all together with a few swipes of a chic fall lip color.

You could also go with TikTok user @ishraani’s method, which begins with a cream blush on the apples of the cheeks and nose, a blend and then set with blurring powder, followed by powder blush on top.

TL;DR? Methods may vary, but basically, swipe a cool-toned blush (or blend of blushes) over your cheeks, nose, eyelids, and cupid’s-bow — the more the merrier. Set with a matte powder and add your fave finishing touches for a hot girl cold makeup look.