How to Rock Red Lips, No Matter What!
While I admittedly own very few clothing items in the vivid hue, I am always game for a red lip! It’s the color that I find many clients fear the most: it’s bold, bright, and impossible to ignore (not to mention potentially messy!) Here’s how to pull it off:
- Red is a statement – so keep the rest of your face subtle. The fastest way to look put together and stylish with minimal effort is to slap on a bold lip! Other than making sure to tone down any redness in your skin, and maybe grooming your brows and/or applying a little mascara, you’ll need very little else. (But once you get more comfortable with bold makeup, adding a classic winged eyeliner is always a grand accompaniment, and as for eye makeup, smoky earthtones and metallics pair beautifully with red lips without being too overpowering.)
- Lock it in place with liner and loose powder – or wear a stain. Glossy red lips are glorious but very difficult to maintain without smearing or feathering, so if you want a lip that lasts, stick with more matte textures, and apply over a long-lasting pencil in a hue that matches either your lipstick, or your natural lip color. Fill the entire lip with the pencil so the lipstick has something to adhere to, and then apply a layer of the lipstick (using a brush will give you more control). Then blot gently on a tissue, and apply again. “Staining” the color into your lips, rather than piling it on, is the goal. You can even add an extra layer of security by blotting loose powder onto your lips through a tissue (see my bright lips tutorial for step by step guidance). And you can skip the extra steps altogether by choosing a long-lasting liquid lip stain (I’m partial to Sephora’s cream lip stain in Always Red).
- Don’t give up until you find the red that’s right! Reds come in countless hues from blue-based berries to earthy almost-browns to bright firey blood orange tones. If you try on a lipstick and your lips appear to be jumping off of your face, look instead for a red with similar undertones to your skin, or start with a brown-based red that leans more neutral. Sometimes it takes awhile to find the one!
Photography: Michelle Girard
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