How - Face

Nude Lips

October 20, 2009

It feels like I’ve been writing about this ‘trend’ for some time, for a couple of years, in fact. Nude lips are nothing new, they’re the perfect partner in crime to a dark smokey eye; or as shown in Paris recently at Chloe, they also look magic with no eye shadow and lashings of mascara.

I love a nude lip in photos and theory but on me…. it just seems a bit strange. I can’t quite get my head around it. On a day-to-day basis I do go au naturel but that’s a bare lip. A bare lip is not the same as a nude lip. Naturally we all have a bit of colour in our lips but when you want to go nude - technically speaking you’re knocking back the natural pink and turning it beige or tan or nude. There’s really no other description for it! Maybe I haven’t tried it with a dark enough eye? Maybe I need more blusher. Maybe I just need to have more guts! Maybe, and most importantly, I haven’t found the right kind of nude for my face. Because, yes, there’s nude and then there’s nude. Nude with a slight tinge of pink perhaps? That might suffice.

Maybelline released an awesome collection of nude lipsticks in varying shades in their Moisture Extreme Lipcolor, $12.95. There’s your true nude - Luminous Beige, dark nude - Chocolate Temptation, mild nude - Caramel Cream, and a pinky nude that I LOVE which I think is called Rose Berry. These are glossy with an SPF 15. I love the lightly pink hue because it adds a bit of colour in my face. Pale skin, blonde hair and no lippie can make me look washed out.

Then there’s the blank out your lip colour nude from M.A.C - a PRO product called Lip Erase, $40, which is frequently used on the catwalk and for shoots. It’s great to use if you want to wear a lip colour and get its true colour - not the colour it becomes when bounced off the shade of your lip. On catwalks Lip Erase is worn by itself which looks awesome with a heavy eye.

If you like the idea of going nude but can’t bear the thought of sacrificing shine combine a high gloss with a nude lipstick or pencil. Smashbox Reflection High Shine Lip Gloss, $45, hydrates lips with hyaluronic acid and also has a pearly appearance. Wear it over their buttery Nude Lip Liner, $37, which comes in four colours - fair, light, medium and dark. Unlike lip pencils of old, this one has jojoba oil and vitamins c and e - it feels more like a lipstick. And here’s a handy trick - to create the appearance of plumper lips, darken the area just underneath the center of the bottom lip with a more intense line. Stick to the natural contours of your lip though.

Do you wear a nude toned lipstick? If so, which one… if not, why not?

Tamsin xo