How To Wear Red Lipstick

2 CommentsSaturday • February 5, 2011 • by Imei

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Red is a beautiful color. Perhaps some of you are thinking about the color red because Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Recently, a friend from out-of-state contacted me for some advice about buying a red lipstick. Big deal, right? Well, it was a big deal, because it was a man asking how to buy and wear a red lipstick — the boldest and most psychologically powerful color — for his woman! He contacted me because I’m a performance artist, and he knows that more often than not, I wear red lipstick on a regular basis. Here is how to wear red lipstick like a professional, whether for stage or for behind the bedroom door.

1. Understand color, texture, and light.

COLOR
If you’re a woman, you likely take for granted that the average woman can discern the subtleties of color as represented in the Pantone scale much easier than the average man. Our eyes are have likely evolved to be able to detect these differences as part of survival as the gatherers we once were. Detecting color, scent, and other differences meant the difference between poisonous foods and rotting meat. So don’t be surprised that women can walk into a store selling cosmetics and select the color she wants from a choice of over 200 shades of red.

Whether man or woman, you’ll want to look at the basic kinds of reds:

Blue reds — a red that has a bluish or cooler aspect to it. These look lovely against skin that has more red tones in it, to help “cool” the redness down. Actress Nicole Kidman could wear either a blue red or a red red, and pull both off nicely because of her pale skin.

Brown reds — a red with a more warm tone to it, which work well with women who love rich browns, beige, and neutral tones in their wardrobe. Care should be taken when wearing these reds, especially if she has had poor dental care, smokes, or has coffee/tea-stained teeth, as the brown in the lipstick will accentuate this. I consider brick and burgundy reds to be in this category. I’ll wear a brown red in the office when I don’t want to assault my

Red Reds — for lack of a better way to describe this, a red red has neither the blue or the brown undertone to it. An example of this would be CoCo Chanel‘s signature red lipstick.

TEXTURE
Lipsticks can be light as a veil, or thick and creamy, with emollients that nourish the lip but are sticky or greasy (a man I’ve kissed calls that quality, “Mookie”). If you don’t like the mookie feel, you’ll want to get a dry lipstick that you apply another clear seal to, but fills in the lines on a lip so that it looks smooth and finished, not feathered.

LIGHT
Lipsticks can contain a shine or gloss within them, be layered with gloss, or be mixed with glitter to create a “bling” effect for the lips. Lipsticks with these features reflect light, so on the stage or with bright room lighting, lips can look like a bright diamond, beckoning all who see it to “kiss the girl.”

Note to guys: when purchasing a lipstick for a woman, ask the seller to show you what it looks like on the inside of the seller’s wrist. The color will never look like it does from the tube. Don’t be shy about asking for several shades to be compared next to each other. She can always wash it off later. Also, I find that my favorite lipsticks do come at higher price (around $25 or more per tube). Considering how many times she’ll wear it, it’s worth the investment. If she hates the color you selected, she can return it with the receipt. Better yet, give her the option to return it on her own and select a color she prefers, and don’t be hurt if it is a shade or two different from the one you selected. After all, she may know better than you what makes her feel alluring. And that’s the point of buying her red lipstick, isn’t it?

2. Apply lipstick
She’ll need the following tools:

matching lipliner (or a shade lighter is fine)
lip primer (if you want the lipstick to stay longer and resist feathering with long wear, talking, drinking, or eating)
lip brush
glitter or gloss (optional)

I recommend going just outside the natural lip line with the liner to make plump lips look even larger. Unfortunately this does not look good on thin lips; stick to the natural lip line, and use warmer reds.

I swear by Mary Kay’s Triple Action Lip Enhancer. Make sure you let the application dry slightly, but my tip is to not let it dry all the way before you add the lipstick on top; that way, the lipstick dries with the product, and sets appropriately.

You can apply a sealing lipstick (usually matte) on top of of your lipstick in a matching color. I recommend this for anyone who dances while wearing makeup. That makeup will not budge unless you take makeup remover to it. The downside: it is very drying, and most men will find the texture too dry to be enjoyable, so don’t forget a nice soft coat of lip gloss just before you land one on him.

If you’re a guy reading this, don’t roll your eyes and give up! You’ve selected paint for your home, and you’ve decorated a room or an office, right? Selecting the tools and the colors for lipstick are like painting a room, except a lot easier. It takes a little time to learn what looks right, but when you see it on the one you love, you’ll like the results! Any man who goes through the trouble of noticing my favorite color or perfume and buys it for me gets a big thumbs up from me (and probably a nice kiss with that thumbs up, meow).

Advanced application: if you’re the guy, and you bought the lipstick for your woman, offer to put it on her. There is nothing more seductive than a man staring at her lips for ten minutes while he dresses them in a sexy color. Double meow!

P.S. If you’re going to wear red, you might as well invest in a matching shade of nail polish. I will usually buy it from the same brand to save myself the trouble of finding just the right shade from another brand. However, if that’s outside your price range, getting close enough is truly good enough when it comes to color because our eyes tend to close the gap when it comes to color differences in proximity.

Posted in: kissing, love, performance arts, psychology

Tagged with: beauty, guy's guide, how to apply, how to select, lipstick, makeup, red lipstick, woman