Did you know that lip colour fades with age? I didn’t either.
I was in my teens when I first tried wearing lipstick and I hated it. It felt waxy and it dried out my lips. That was when I decided that I really didn’t need it anyway as I was blessed with plenty of natural pigment in my lips. A bit of gloss was all that was needed to dress them up.
Not so anymore. I’ve started to notice that without lipstick, I often look a bit washed out. At first, I attributed it to the fact that my wardrobe is largely neutral in colour, but then I learned that as we mature, we experience natural loss of lip pigment. We also lose lip volume with age which accentuates the loss of colour.
So, lipstick it is, but how to choose from the myriad of options that are available?
Lipstick composition hasn’t changed much over the years, but I find that the moisturizing formula of Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick works well for me so I’m sticking to that brand. If you have trouble with lipstick drying out your lips, I’d recommend giving it a try.
Once you find a brand that you’re comfortable with, there’s still the question of colour. So many choices! Here are a few tips that might help.
Choose colours that enhance your skin tone. If your skin has warm undertones, experiment with shades of coral, peach, copper, or bronze. If your skin has cool undertones, try mauve, mocha, cranberry, or wine colours.
Every woman can wear red, but we shouldn’t all wear the same red. As with clothing, especially anything worn close to your face, skin with warm undertones looks best with an orange-based red while skin with cool undertones looks better with a blue-based shade.
Unless you shop at a high end cosmetic counter that provides alcohol to clean the tester as well as sterile brushes or cotton swabs to apply the sample colours, you won’t want to apply the tester lipstick to your mouth. Rather than testing the lipstick on your wrist or the side of your hand, test it on the pads of your fingertips which are much closer to your lip colour.
For a subtle everyday look, choose a colour that’s just a bit darker or brighter than your natural lip colour. For dressier occasions, go for dramatic lips or eyes, but not both.
Don’t try to match your lip colour too closely to your clothing. For example, if you’re wearing a bright red dress, a lipstick in the same colour will be overwhelming. Perhaps try a darker shade.
Don’t forget that you can create your own lipstick colours by blending more than one. If one of my darker colours seems a bit too bold, I simply add a light coat of my more subtle everyday colour to tone it down a bit.
Most important of all, remember that these are just guidelines. Rules are meant to be broken. First and foremost, wear what makes you feel confident and happy and don’t forget, once you’ve coloured those lips, add a smile!
Please note: This is not a sponsored post.
I tend to be a minimalist when it comes to makeup, but there’s one product I can’t be without. I’m not talking skin care products here, just makeup. I’d go completely makeup free before I’d dream of giving up my skin cleanser, day lotion or night cream, but if I had to choose just one makeup product, it would be mascara. I feel naked without it!
I’ve been using Cover Girl’s Clump Crusher Water Resistant Mascara by Lashblast for quite awhile and I find it very satisfactory. It’s reasonably priced and stays on well. I prefer a water resistant mascara over a waterproof one because it’s much easier to remove, but it doesn’t smudge easily and doesn’t run if my eyes water or I shed a few tears. I wear black brown as I find it less harsh and more natural looking than black.
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