How - Face

Paint your lips red

July 23, 2009

Whenever I hear someone say they can’t wear red lipstick I know it’s because they’ve never found the right red that suits them or they have had some sort of disaster wearing bold lip colours and would rather not go back there. When you’re not used to wearing a lot of makeup, red lipstick can feel very foreign, very bold and very intimidating. It’s also a lot of maintenance as I once discovered at a function. I’m not the reapply constantly type of girl but when I realised at the end of the lunch that my red lippie had left a tidemark around my lips I wished I’d gone to the bathroom and reapplied every five minutes!

Red has two tones - cool or warm and in order to find the red that suits you, you need to know whether your skin’s underlying tones are  warm or cool. It can be a bit of a trick to figure it out, but start by considering your wardrobe and what colours you know look best on you. Do you suit gold (warm) or silver (cool)? When you look at the veins underneath your arm on your wrist do they look green (warm) or blue (cool)? By now you should have some inkling about which side you’re on. Generally speaking though on fair skin any orange / brick red will look great, on olive skin, a blood (blue) red will work.

Here are some tips on how to apply it from makeup artist Davina Lamont:

Keep the rest of the face simple, and make sure your ‘canvas’ is as flawless as possible. Use concealor to hide any blemishes as red on the lip will draw out any other red on your face. You could either dot a fine line of black or dark brown shadow along the lashline to make lashes appear fuller or just swipe them with a couple of coats of mascara for a soft fresh finish.

Next step is to apply a Primer to your lips first - this stops any bleeding and also conditions. I like MAC Prep and Prime Lip. Depending on the look you are after, I find using a red lip pencil first to line the lip can look dated, so with a lip brush, apply the lipstick straight onto the lip. You can blot with a tissue if you think it looks too strong. If you can’t go without a lip pencil apply a more natural shade in MAC Subculture, and smooth out over the lip. 

For a full velvety pout use a matte lipstick.

Some great red lipsticks are…… 

MAC Russian Red $NZ38, Nars Jungle red (slightly warm) $AU58, Nars Dragon Girl $AU50 for all those ladies who like to be bold.

MAC Lady bug, and MAC viva glam 1. NARS Diablo is a perfect red stain. STILA pomegranate crush is a lip and cheek stain. CLINQUE Cherry Apple and MAC pucker lip balm are great soft gloss. L’Oreal Paris Color Riche Star Secrets in Penelope Red, $NZ21.99, is good for a full rouge pout.

Nars and Stila are available at Mecca Cosmetica ph (09) 360 8460 or Kirkcaldie and Stains (04) 472 5899. L’Oreal Paris Color Riche is available at all Farmers, Pharmacies and some supermarkets. Clinique is available on counter in department stores and selected Life Pharmacies around the country.

Tamsin xo