Makeup identification using deep learning in a digital medium environment is described. Initially, a user input is received to provide a digital image depicting a face which has a desired makeup characteristic. A discriminative neural network is trained to identify and describe makeup characteristics of the input digital image based on data describing differences in visual characteristics between pairs of images, which include a first image depicting a face with makeup applied and a second image depicting a face without makeup applied. The makeup characteristics identified by the discriminative neural network are displayed for selection to search for similar digital images that have the selected makeup characteristic. Once retrieved, the similar digital images can be displayed along with the input digital image having the desired makeup characteristic.