I love red lips. I find them so powerful and plus, your lips looks amazing with such a bold, sexy color. Like the survey I wrote about a year ago, red lips can be naughty, nice, classy, feminine, and HOT! Here’s how to sport this sexy look yourself.
Choosing your perfect color
When choosing your perfect red color, you usually don’t pick one with your eyes closed and expect it to suit you! Red is a little more tricky than that. There are different tones of reds that suit different skin tones.
- Fair skin – If your skin has cool pink undertones, colors that suit you are blue-based reds. If your fair skin has yellow undertones, try colors such as corals (my new obsession) and red colors that have orange and golden undertones.
- Medium skin – Olive and golden skin tones suit brown based and orange based reds. Also, cranberry shades look great on you!
- Dark skin – Deep, rich colors such as warm brick red and burgundy colors would suit your skin tone the best. Don’t try anything too bright, it may look too harsh.
Prep your lips
Red is a very bold color, so flakes and dry lips will look way more obvious with this color. What you can do is either apply a crazy amount of lip balm and taking a damp washcloth and gently rub the lip balm off your lips (this will remove flakes and dry bits in the process) or you can take a very soft wet baby toothbrush to gently exfoliate dead skin off. Whichever you are comfortable with! The toothbrush method can be harsh on the thin skin on the lips, so be very gentle.
Apply the color
Here’s my very first makeup tutorial. No laughing please! I only know two buttons on my camera so this is a big achievement. However, since it’s my first time if you have any tips on how to make it better or constructive criticism, please do tell me! :) I want to make future tutorials as simple yet helpful as possible.
If you would like more help on how to apply lipstick, you may find my post Makeup 101: How to Apply Lipstick helpful.
Extra tips
Take your time. Applying dramatic, bold color like red cannot be done in 20 seconds! Take your time when applying the color so there are no weird shapes or lines and uneven color. Keep a Q-tip handy incase of mistakes.- Keep the rest of your makeup minimal. Red lips already command enough attention – don’t go crazy and add bright blush and dark, crazy eye makeup! You know the rule, one feature only (which you all seemed to agree with in my post, How much is too much when it comes to makeup?). So, leave the rest of your face somewhat natural: a light blush, natural soft eyeshadow colors, and a little mascara.
- Go easy on the lip gloss. Again, red lips draw enough attention to your lips. Try not to overdo it by adding even more colored lip gloss on top. Keep it to clear lipgloss and apply it lightly so it looks naturally shiny.
What do you think of red lips? Do you ever wear it much yourself? If you have any extra tips to add in, please feel free to! :)
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
i’m too shy to wear such a bold color :/ i think it takes a certain look to be able to pull this off…i think i would just look goofy. i never wear lipstick ha.
but i love this look in movies : )
Dip´s last blog … Washing Monster
Try it one day! I too thought it looked way too harsh but my mom kept saying I should since I have nice lips. :/ So I did and now I’m addicted :-P Try it just once, promise? :D
haha okay i’ll let you know how it looks
Dip´s last blog … Bionicles Rule
This a fantastic tutorial! Red lipstick scares me a bit, but I’m easing my way up to it by using red tinted lip balms and sheer glosses. Does your camera have macro mode? It is the mode that is used to take pictures very close up. It can help your close up photos look clearer. You can probably find the manual to your camera online to learn how to find it and use it. :)
P.S. Your lips are gorgeous!
Tammy´s last blog … Share The Love: Sunday Reads
Thanks so much, Tammy. I have no idea what a macro mode is (I suck!) but I will ask a friend. I did take larger pictures and crop it ’cause my chin and half my nose looked a little weird in the photos haha. Thanks for the suggestions though, I do think they turned out a little blurry. :( I’ll do better next time hopefully!
And thanks for the lip comment! I used to hate my lips but now I like them… Try red lips yourself some time! :D I did start with tinted lipbalms too and I liked it so much I went out and bought a bright red :-P Now I’m thinking tangerine, corals, hot pink, berrys… etc. The list goes on! :-P
By the way, thanks for adding me to your links page – I’ve added you to mine too :)
Ruby Lips on a smile so sweettt! cheers!
I’ve heard another tip: you can use concealer over your lips and then put the lipstick on top to really make it pop, and then use a bit of translucent powder on top after blotting to really make the lipstick stick. Also, a big tip that I’m a fan of is after you’re done applying your lipstick, stick your forefinger into your mouth, close your lips around it, and pull your finger straight out. That will get rid of any excess lipstick that will want to stick to your teeth!
That being said, I almost never wear lip gloss or lipstick, but I’ve always wanted to try!
P.S. The macro setting looks like a flower on your camera :) You should also try to do it in natural lighting (but not direct sunlight!) for the best color payoff.
Thanks for your added tips, Danielle! I actually do the ‘put your finger in your mouth’ etc myself, can’t believe I forgot it! And yep, concealer is great too, though I haven’t personally tried it (I have dry lips and I think this will just add to it!)
And you should try lipstick! Especially a bold color like red. Really changes everything :-P
And thanks for the cam tips – I did do it near my bedroom window so it was bright enough but I think I zoomed in and cropped it too much. Still looking for the macro setting though :(
Great tutorial! I love red lips, but I lack the confidence to wear them, so I just stick to sheer red glosses.
You have beautiful lips.
gio´s last blog … Facial Redness: Causes And Cures
Thank you, Gio! It is a bit weird at first but after awhile you do get used to it , red lips feel very powerful so should give you some confidence too! :)
Hi Renee,
Great tutorial! I like my lipstick on the matte side, but that gloss looks great on you! As for the photos, it took me a while to get used to it, but I try to take my photos on a sunny day. If not, then use the manual setting then set it to whatever the condition is: cloudy, indoors, night, etc.. Try playing around with the ISO setting — it’s really just the shutter speed: less if there is more light and more if there is less light.
I received your email and will reply to it soon. I guess I’m the one down with sickness now :(
Mary´s last blog … Praying. Hoping.
Aw Mary, get well soon! Don’t worry about it, take your time!
And thanks for all the camera tips. Hopefully the next stuff will be eye makeup so I’ll be showing eye stuff, which I think is easier to shoot by myself. Taking a picture of my mouth was so weird! And yep, I think I will do it in my balcony next time so there is even more light. :-P
I am notorious for chewing my lipstck off. Nude, semi-nude and pink shades are more forgiving of my bad habit. Red, not so much. I have to re-apply and often. Which, imo, defeats the purpose of red lips. To be so confident in yourself that you can make a bold statement with your mouth alone and not your eyes. Most woman feel their eyes are their best feature. When I try to do a bold lip on my models, I always get a moment of hesitation, before the, “okay.” It looks wonderful when it’s done right, but undertones are everything and in red, unforgiving.
So, to all those who wear them well and pull them off… BRAVA!!!!
Nancy Liedel´s last blog … Perfume Review, Kim Kardashian’s New Fragrance