From naked manicures to neutral skin, summer is all about living in \u201cless is more\u201d skin-toned nudes. Now, less than a month until the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture, performers Kehlani and Monica prove why nude lipstick should be the first product in your festival makeup bag. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The performers linked with Missy Elliott in Atlanta for Kehlani\u2019s new music video \u201cBack and Forth (feat. Missy Elliott).\u201d While music (which we\u2019ll hear live at the Evening Concert Series in New Orleans) is the through line between the artists, so are smokey eyes, voluminous lashes, and of course, a summer nude lip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Monica, a matte nude lipstick\u2014which matched her eyeshadow\u2014was just a few shades deeper than her skin tone. Then, to add definition, her makeup artist Eva Kim defined her nude with a dark brown lip liner. A similar approach was taken for her eyes, which were fully lined in black eyeliner, a smoky wing, and long, brow-reaching lashes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kehlani, who\u2019s respected for paying homage to the Greats, like Monica and Missy, followed a similar formula for her makeup. Like Mo, Kehlani\u2019s lips were nude and lined, except her makeup artist Troye Antonio opted for a peach shade with a silky finish instead of matte. While her eyes were shadow-less and liner less dark, she paid homage to Monica\u2019s smoked out wing with one of her own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From Monica and Kehlani to Missy, the range of summer nudes only turned more and more silky. Missy\u2019s nude lipstick was sheer and less defined than the ESSENCE Festival performers\u2019, but still had the same amount of texture and dimension. Hers was paired with a prominent gold shadow with eyeliner even darker and smokier than Monica\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their beauty looks go to show what\u2019s trending this summer (and all the right ways to wear nudes). Whether it\u2019s defined mattes like Monica, Kehlani\u2019s satin peach lips, or sheer metallics via Missy Elliott, there\u2019s no better time to go bare than right now.urce: Essence<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From naked manicures to neutral skin, summer is all about living in \u201cless is more\u201d skin-toned nudes. Now, less than a month until the 2026 ESSENCE Festival of Culture, performers Kehlani and Monica prove why nude lipstick should be the first product in your festival makeup bag. The performers linked with Missy Elliott in Atlanta for Kehlani\u2019s new music video \u201cBack and Forth (feat. Missy Elliott).\u201d While music (which we\u2019ll hear live at the Evening … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[372,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essence","category-feed-content","infinite-scroll-item","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"auto feed","author_link":"https:\/\/kmojfm.com\/wp\/author\/autofeed\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmojfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmojfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmojfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmojfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmojfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmojfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77285,"href":"https:\/\/kmojfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77281\/revisions\/77285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmojfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmojfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmojfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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