On a bad day, there is always lipstick – Unknown
With its endless palette of lipsticks, glosses, and stains, going through the makeup counter and picking the perfect item for your skin tone can be pretty overwhelming. This article guides you on how to choose the right lip color to match your skin tone and outfit.
Step 1:
You need to know your Skin Tone:
Examine your skin in natural lighting to determine whether your complexion is fair, light, medium, tan, deep while paying attention on the skin around your jaw line.
Step 2:
Observe the color of the veins on the inside of your wrist. This has always worked as a quick way to figure out if you have a warm, neutral, or cool skin tone.
Blue or purple veins indicate you have a cool skin tone while green veins mean you have a warm skin tone. If you have difficulty deciding if your veins are blue or green, it is likely you have a neutral skin tone and can choose colors from both the cool and warm spectrum.
Still finding it difficult determining your skin tone?
Put on gold and silver jewelry. Which looks better?
Gold jewelry looks best with warm skin tones while silver jewelry looks best on cool skin tones. When both looks good on you, then you have a more neutral skin tone.
Step 3:
Colour experts advise that you find a color that is one to two shades deeper than your natural lip colour.
Consider the shade of your teeth when choosing lipstick. Professional makeup artist always say that cooler tones of red lipstick will make your teeth appear whiter. So, if your teeth aren’t as white as you’d like, you probably should avoid orange lipstick, as they’ll make your teeth look way les brighter.”
Step 4:
Do you want your lips to look smaller or larger?
Dark shades will make your lips look smaller, while lighter shades makes it plump.
Lipstick with matte finish can also make the lips look thinner, while those with glossy and shimmery shades can make them look fuller.
Step 5:
Experiment with shades for your skin tone and complexion.
For fair or light skin, try light pink, coral, peach, nudes, or beige.
For a skin colour with cool undertones, try a soft mocha and nude.
Warm undertone go better with pale pinks or a nude with a little peach.
If you have medium skin, try colours like rose, mauve, or berry shades.
Cool undertones, try shades of pink or cranberry. Warm undertones: experiment with copper or bronze.
If you have a deep complexion, try out browns or purples like walnut, caramel, plum, or wine.
Step 6:
How to apply a lipstick:
Keep it simple and subtle unless you’re feeling like making a statement with bold lips (which is totally great!), apply strong shades to your lower lip only. Press your lips together, then use your finger to even out the color.
Step 7:
When buying lipsticks, try it on before you buy it except you have used the exact shade before. Clean the tester with a little alcohol (the make-up store should provide this in a spray bottle) and use either a test brush or a cotton swab to apply the color to your lips.
If you don’t want to apply it to your lips for hygienic reasons, test it on the pads of your fingertips. Note that your fingertips are closer to your lip color than your wrist or the side of your hand.
Remove one lip colour completely before trying on another to avoid mix up.
Please don’t match a lip color too closely with your clothing. Let’s say you are wearing a red dress, wearing the same exact color on your lips will look overwhelming. Make a shade deeper or lighter or use an entirely different colour.
Hey! Don’t put yourself in a bubble. If you find a colour you love that breaks the “rules”–go for it!