Find your bespoke shade for the season and beyond with your very own lip service.
What’s the one accessory you can always rely on? Always slick into place with a moment’s notice? And will always make any outfit party-fit not to mention boost your confidence even when you’re just wearing jeans? A statement lip, of course.
This classic look ticks all of your beauty boxes. And whether you already love to lip or have no idea where to start, New Year is the perfect time to get your shade selection in order.
It’s easy and all based on your skin tone, which you can work out with our simple test – and from there you can find the colours that work, then choose the right texture for your age, application skills, and preferences.
A few easy step and you’ll be ready to party into 2020.
The Skin tone test: Cool or Warm?
Whether you are fair, olive, dark or somewhere in between, finding the right lipstick isn’t really about the colour of your skin but about the tone. We all have a coolness or warmth to the undertones of our skin. And this is what allows us to get the dream lip colour match. But which are you?
Try this…
1 Remove all of your make-up with your usual cleanser and allow it to calm down for around 15 minutes (so any redness can fade and not mess up the test)
2 Find a natural light source, sitting by a window works a treat.
3 Hold a white piece of paper up to your face and check your look in the mirror as you do so.
The results…
If your skin looks yellow or sallow next to the white of the paper you have warm tones.
If your skin looks pink or blue-ish next to the white paper you have cool tones.
Cool- Tone Lipsticks
Pale pinks, light nudes, crimson reds, plums and chocolates are all options for cool ladies. Why? They all have blue hues that make up the overall colour pigment so are ideal for matching your undertones. Here’s two to try…
3ina Longwear Lipstick in 500 (£10.95, 3ina.com)
Max Factor Colour Elixir Lipstick in Pure Plum (£8.99, superdrug.com)
Warm-Tone Lipsticks
Peaches, deeper nudes, coral-based reds, golden browns and bright pinks will tick all of a warm-toned lady’s boxes. It’s the orangey undertones that go hand-in-hand with the heat in your skin, for the ultimate lip look. Here’s two to try…
Daniel Sandler Lipshine Lipstick in Cherub (£14.25, danielsandler.com)
Giorgio Armani Lip Maestro Lip Freeze in Tangerine (£31, armanibeauty.co.uk)
The Perfect Lip – Step By Step
1 Whatever shade or texture you choose, prep your lips the right way by rubbing a little sugar mixed in with olive oil over them. This gentle homemade scrub will buff away any flaky bits and smooth things over so your lipstick settles rather than sticks. Massage over with fingertips before rinsing well.
2 Pat your lips dry, then use a clear lip liner to give your pout an even shape – there’s no colour so no fear factor – instead you’re casually building up a light layer for your lipstick to hold on to while filling out any areas that might not be as full as they once were.
3 Now, work the shade around the outline of your lip first; rest your arm on a table to keep things steady, then fill in the lips. Blot with a tissue, reapply, then enjoy all of
the compliments.
