The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word ROUGE
I've seen this crossword clue in Financial Times
R
O
U
G
E
More clues leading to the result ROUGE
- Rake smuggling in good powder
- Scoundrel downing good Beaujolais?
- Cheeky slap makes one red
- Make-up uneven, hard to remove close to bedtime
- Cosmetic for girl entertained by libertine
- Strange urge to accept nothing but French red
- Debauchee drinking good red stuff
- Dissolute chap drinks good French red
- In Don Juan’s embrace, girl’s beginning to blush
- Red shoes worn away at the sides
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Make-up" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case make-up = rouge.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does ROUGE mean?
ROUGE noun- Red or pink makeup to add colour to the cheeks; blusher.
- Any reddish pink colour.
- A single point awarded when a team kicks the ball out of its opponent's end zone, or when a kicked ball becomes dead within the non-kicking team's end zone. Etymology uncertain; it is thought that in the early years of the sport, a red flag indicated that a single had been scored. (This scoring term is not often used in Canada, with the term single being more commonly used.)
- In the Eton wall game, a scrummage, melée.
- In the Eton College field game, a scoring move accomplished by touching the ball down behind the opponents' goal-line (somewhat similar to the try in rugby). Originally, the player who scored the rouge had a chance to kick a goal, and the rouge was used as a tie-breaker if an equal number of goals was scored by each side. In the contemporary Eton College field game, a five-point score is awarded for kicking the ball so that it deflects off one of the opposing players and goes beyond the opposition's end of the pitch, and then touching the ball.
- From 1862 to 1868, a similar scoring move in Sheffield rules football. From 1862 to 1867, accomplished by touching the ball down after it had been kicked between two "rouge flags" either side of the goal. From 1867-1868, awarded for kicking the ball between the rouge flags and under the crossbar.
- A red amorphous powder consisting of ferric oxide, used in polishing and as a cosmetic; crocus; jeweller's rouge.
- To apply rouge (makeup).
- Of a reddish pink colour.