#lipstick tips

Whilst a bright red lip can be pared with dewy skin and a gorgeous winged liner, it’s not the best option of choice when you’re wearing a deep and dark smoky eyeshadow (it can sometimes look a bit over powering) or if you’re experimenting with colour on the eyes (purple eyeshadow or an electric blue liner) for those times when you’re wanting to divert attention to the eyes, or simply want a basic everyday makeup look, a nude lipstick is generally the go to for adding a little colour to your lips without over powering your face.

Picking the perfect nude lipstick requires more effort than selecting a red or bright pink as undertones, intensity and pigmentation can play a huge factor in determining how the colour looks against your skin.

COLOUR

When shopping for nude lipstick, make sure your lips are completely free of colour, and if possible make it that you are not wearing any makeup, this allows you to visualize the colour against your natural skintone without the interference of bronzers, blushers, and foundation.

With no makeup on, examine the inside of your lip by popping your bottom lip down and making a sad face, the inside colour of your lip will help you to see what the most flattering nude colour will be on your skintone.

Lighter skintones should opt for a shade that has a pink tone.

Medium skin go for something more beige and yellow based

Darker skin looks best something that is a rich, dark, mocha style brown similar to the natural lip shade.

I’m wearing the Maybelline superstay matte ink!

Though it’s still supremely weird to me, I get a lot of people asking me for lipstick tips. Like how do I avoid bleeding? How are my lines so sharp? How come I don’t need to reapply so often? So I thought I’d just go over how I apply lipstick, and hopefully that’ll help!

Here goes nothing!

1. Lip Scrub

A scrub is a man who can’t get no love from me~ Sorry. This is great to clear off all that dead skin on your lips. Smoother lips make it easier to apply lipstick. Also, they just feel so amazing, especially after a day of wearing matte or drying lipstick. 

2. Lip Balm

Moisturizing your lips is one of the most important steps to applying lipstick, especially matte lipstick. It helps with keeping your lips from drying. It’s like one more layer between your lips and your lipstick. If you’re applying makeup to the rest of your face, put lip balm on your lips first, so by the time you get to your lipstick, it’ll have time to settle.

3. Primer

Primer!!! I cannot stress enough how many times lip primer has saved my lips. I use a clear lip primer, and it is honestly the best. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or expensive, any clear one will do. You can use it in lieu of a lip liner, which can be tedious to match to your many colours of lipsticks, so a clear one just makes sense. I apply it all over my lips and around my lips too. Not only does it give the lipstick something to stick to (and last longer), but it also locks in your colour, and keeps it from bleeding out on your face. Plus, it’ll keep you from re-applying too often! 

4. Lip brush

I always use a lip brush to apply my lipstick. It doesn’t matter the kind. Creamy, liquid, matte, liquid matte (my fave). This is how I get my clean lines. Using a lip brush gives you a more defined line, you end up using less product than you would have if you applied straight from the stick/tube. You can follow your natural lip line, or exaggerate it out a bit, do what you want! That’s the beauty of a lip brush--you can have any lip shape you want!

5. Practice

Practice, practice, practice! That’s the secret. That’s it. It just takes a lot of practice. If you’re worried about your skill level, don’t fret! Just keep going, it’ll happen. I was really hopeless, and the only reason I’m half-way decent is because I kept practicing. 

Products used: Chocolate Lip Scrub, Burt’s Bees Lip Balm, Ozone Lip Primer, Fiery by Stila. 

If you write for a site called Makeup Tips, it’s pretty much a given that you will be asked “What is your favourite makeup tip?” on the regular. In this article our team of writers share their very best, top favourite, holy grail makeup tip.

“Mix orange lipstick with your concealer on the back of your hand! This is my all-time favourite makeup tip. It makes your concealer creamier and the orange helps to counteract any blue tones underneath the eyes. I like to use one with a bit of shimmer in it for the very best results!”