No guys come up to say “Hey, that’s such a great no-lip look.”
– Veronica Chu, makeup artist
“I love your bright lipstick—you look great! I wish I could wear colours like that. *sigh*” That’s a statement I still hear a lot. And it’s something I used to tell people, until I trained myself to wear bright lip shades.
That’s right, trained. It’s not easy to get out of neutral — you know that if that’s your beauty go-to. But you can train yourself, too, in just five little steps:
1. Choose a hot colour you absolutely love in the tube. Ruthlessly shut out that I-would-never-wear-that thought and PUT. IT. ON.
2. Wear that hot colour around the house all day—all weekend if you start on a Saturday. Accept compliments from family members and mirrors. Ignore all negative comments. They’ll be coming from your own head, which canNOT be trusted. Face a bright window in your bathroom or bedroom and take a bunch of digi-photos of yourself wearing said bright colour, just for fun.
3. On Day 2, wear that lip colour in public. Wear it to work or wear it out to lunch with your most fashionable friends. Every other thought in your head will be omigod-I’m-wearing-such-a-bright-lipstick, but IGNORE. Be strong. Accept all compliments — you’ll get them, trust — with grace.
4. On Day 3 — no, you don’t get a break to switch back to neutrals. It’s called “training” for a reason. Remember how you admired bright lip colour on other people. Understand that even in your discomfort (which should be less now than on previous days), other people stuck in neutral will see you and think/say, “I love your bright lipstick, you look great! I wish I could wear colours like that.”
5. On Day 4, twitpic your best bright-lips photos with a “bravely in training to wear bright lip colour” tweet. Post the really good ones on Facebook. Accept compliments.
Around now — let’s say Day 5 — you should find yourself reaching for your bright lipstick automatically. Now you are the person other people will envy for your fearless ability to rock gorgeous bright colour on your lips.
Time for a different shade.
See? This works! Trust.
UPDATE: This is how you do Step 5! Love, love, love.
Go Robyn, go!
@janinefalcon you were right it gets easier! Day 5#loveit! twitter.com/robynmhunt/sta…— Robyn Hunt (@robynmhunt) August 17, 2012
Jane is a die-hard soft neutral-lip woman. But look!
Still in shock. Red lipstick. Wow.instagr.am/p/N4eeKpLzHg/
— Jane Daly (@daly_beauty) August 3, 2012
Lindsay’s on a roll — amazing!
Train lipstick of the day: MAC Neon Orange.twitpic.com/a61iyp
@janinefalcon knows what’s up.— Lindsay Smith (@sometimesicing) July 10, 2012
Trying a new lip colour. Outside of my comfort zone. Rimmel Kate Moss 09.instagr.am/p/M06jMcg02K/
— Lindsay Smith (@sometimesicing) July 8, 2012
Jennifer’s wearing one of my favourite shades, MAC Girl About Town.
@janinefalcon My fuschia lipstick for a wedding tomorrow, inspired by@beautygeeks!!! twitter.com/myjmo/status/2…— Jennifer Monk (@myjmo) July 6, 2012
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The key to wearing bright lipstick- balance. Balance the intensity with a soft barely there eye, and put your blush on last so you can get a true view of how much you need. Balance the tone with your outfit and other color cosmetics.. cools with cools, warms with warms. You can wear a cool color if you have warm toned skin and vice versa, but only if you balance the rest of the colors you are wearing.
And if you are wearing a bright lip be prepared to keep it up, either by bringing your products with you or choosing a long wear formula- a left over hot pink ring around your lips is not cute.
All excellent tips, thanks Charlotte!
I think this may be my favourite post ever. I am doing this! Right now!
I have these reds that I bought that I never wear. That’s reds. Plural. More than one. So it’s silly that I’m so scared.
OK. Off I go…
I love that you couldn’t resists buying colour that makes you happy in the tube. I want to know how you feel when you finally wear them!
I started wearing brighter lip colours over the last few months and I’m loving it. Actually, I find when I go back to the neutral berry tones that I wore on a regular basis in the past, it seems so boring to me now. However, they are needed when I decide to wear brighter or bolder eye shadows. I don’t have a large collection of bright lip colours like you do (only about 3), but going forward, I’m more motivated to try on/purchase more brighter shades. It makes a person appear more youthful and brightens up the complexion as well, esp if your skin has a dull, yellow undertone to begin with.
You need neutrals with brighter or bolder eye makeup, most definitely — I’d never advocate ditching neutrals entirely. *grin* Love that you’re enjoying expanded beauty horizons! And you’ve got it exactly right re: what the right bright colour can do for the complexion.
Such good advice! A bold lipstick is a great statement, and a total pick-me-up when you feel down or tired! Been rocking this one since I was a teenager!
Thanks, Donna! And you’re so right — bold lipstick is a terrific pick-me-up. How funny to realize that it was a pick-me-up unavailable to me when I thought a bold lip wasn’t something I could do. Another thank you, for this perspective — the more pick-me-ups we can access on a crappy day, the fewer crappy days we’ll have.
Sometimes Icing and JMo look amazing. Great pictures. Note: But Jennifer, I need to know what brand your fuchsia is. (Oh, and the new L’Oreal Rouge Caresse in Velvet Fuchsia, #173 is amazing, if you’re now a fuchsia addict.)
That’s my new favourite fuchsia too, Liza — and it looks sensational on you!
Thanks so much, Liza!
It’s MAC’s “Girl About Town” and I am definitely an addict after all the compliments I received this weekend :) Will have to check out your recommendation, STAT!!
See how it goes? I love it! And I love Girl About Town, too — wore it here: http://bit.ly/NbFx2T
On you, though, the colour looks like it was made for you!
Very nice post :) (But I still love my nudes on lazy days :p)
On lazy days that mean just hangin’, my go-to is tinted lip balm with a sheer watermelon-esque hue — see? I haven’t entirely given it up! And on lazy days that mean I don’t want to fuss with much makeup, yet still want to look polished, my go-to is bright fuchsia or bright orange or bright coral. *grin*
I see what you’re doing here! ;)
Admitting I’m two kinds of lazy?
Dear Geek,
As evidenced by the photo I sent you, I wore bright lipstick today.
I hadn’t been out more than 45 minutes when a dude told me he thought my lipstick looked great and that I should seriously consider sharing it with him. He waggled his eyebrows when he fed me the line and I proceeded to laugh my ass off.
I’ma take that as a compliment – just thought you should know.
I have never had someone lob a comment like that at me. You must be special, You. And definitely counts as a compliment. *grin*
Well done on the bright lip, too — looks wonderful!
Because I’m super-lazy and suck at maintenance, I cheated and put a similar-ish colour lipstain underneath. Lotsa people said it looked great but I only got the one request to share…