Makeup And Parts Of The Face In Italian

Italians like to look nice when out and about: ironed shirts and trousers, clean shoes, hair just right… insomma (all in all), everything in its place. In many cases, this includes il trucco (makeup). The noun il trucco also means “trick,” so in a sense you are tricking the onlooker into thinking you have longer lashes that you actually do, or redder lips. Here you can learn the words for types of makeup and parts of your face in Italian. The verb truccare is used to mean “to put on makeup.” But the verb truccare also means “to cheat.”

So what do you call the parts of your face in Italian?

La testa (the head/hair)

Italians usually say la testa, not la mia testa. For Italians, it’s clear who the head belongs to. This goes for the other parts of the body, too. Sometimes they use la testa to mean their hair.

Ho la testa bagnata (my hair is wet).

la faccia (the face)

le labbra (the lips)

Here’s the word for “lips.” 1 lip=il labbro. 2 lips= le labbra. Weird plural! Irregular.

le ciglia (the eyelashes)

la fronte (the forehead)

gli zigomi (the cheekbones)

il mento (the chin)

il collo (the neck)

gli occhi (the eyes)

il naso (the nose).

What do you call the different makeup products?

Let’s say you want to buy some lipstick.

Maybe you like to wear rossetto. The classic color for lipstick is red, and rosso means red. That makes sense, right? There are lots of nouns in Italian that are simply a verb or adjective with a suffix stuck onto it, in this case, rosso (red) plus –etto meaning “small.” In fact, you can fit un rossetto (a lipstick) into a pocket!

Some women don’t leave the house without mascara on.

Mascara: That’s an easy one. The word Mascara is mascara in Italian! In every profumeria, there is l’imbarazzo della scelta (too many to choose from). Just choose your price (il prezzo), the color (il colore) — nero (black), marrone (brown), blu (blue), viola (purple).

La matita (eyeliner)

It outlines the eyes in subtle or dramatic ways to enhance the eye’s shape, or even change it. La matita is very popular with Italian women.

Foundation, pressed powder, and blush!

Cover up your blemishes with fondo tinta (foundation), cipria (pressed powder), fard (blush/rouge). You’ll touch on la fronte (the forehead), gli zigomi (the cheekbones), il mento (the chin), il collo (the neck), e il naso (the nose).

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