Red Lipstick: My Thoughts

In this month's edition of British Vogue, current editor-in-chief Alexandra Shulman wrote a very interesting article on finding her perfect shade of red lipstick. She mentioned how she had never found a red lipstick that suited her and that she often ends up going with a more natural lip when she is having her makeup done. In the beauty world, I have noticed that the one shade that I hear, watch or read about people fearing when it comes to lipstick is red. For myself, it never really has been. I am still fighting on in my battle to wear purple lipstick (and I desperately want the royal blue lipstick from M.A.C) but red has never really been a problem. After reading this article, I scoured through my lipstick collection and pulled out all the reds that I own and decided to see whether I have found my perfect shade of red.

Red Lipsticks
Clockwise from top: L'Oreal Color Riche in Julianne's Pure Red, Rimmel Moisture Renew in Rose Passion, Topshop Lipstick in Hazard, M.A.C Ruby Woo, Clinique Pop Lip Colour in Poppy Pop, Rimmel Moisture Renew in In Love With Ginger and L'Oreal Color Riche in Scarlett Creme

Out of all my red lipsticks, the one that I am wearing the most often is M.A.C Ruby Woo. I love the colour and the fact that I know that it is not going to budge. According to the M.A.C website, this is a blue-toned red. When I sat down and swatched all of these lipsticks, I noticed that three of the other lipsticks were almost identical in shade to Ruby Woo. These shades are the Topshop Lipstick in Hazard, Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Rose Passion which is discontinued (I also mentioned this in the Beauty Products I Am Terrible At Repurchasing post) and the L'Oreal Color Riche Lipstick in Scarlett Creme (this was part of a gift set so I am not sure if it was ever available individually). My first thoughts were whilst I love Ruby Woo and am glad I have it, why do I have three other lipsticks in the exact same colour!

It also got me thinking that maybe this is why I was so attracted to Ruby Woo in the first place - is my perfect red lipstick shade blue-toned reds? On many red lipstick posts in magazines, they often recommend blue-toned reds to people with very pale skin-tones, I would say my skin-tone is somewhere between light and medium white skin when I am not on holiday (I go orange, but in the good way). Despite this, I think these shades do suit me when I wear them so do not necessarily abide by these 'rules' when looking for a red lipstick. It also echoes something that Justine Jenkins who is the makeup artist Alexandra mentions in her piece, "You have to be prepared to try many". With the exception of Scarlett Creme, these are definitely the most-worn out of all the red lipsticks.

The other three lipsticks are lipsticks that I purchased because I love the colour of them but have not worn them as much as I should. In Love With Ginger from the revamped Moisture Renew when they changed their packaging was a YouTube enabled purchase and I don't think I've worn it that much. It is a orange-red and in some lights it is more orange, and sometimes it looks more red. I think these shades look better on tanned or darker skin tones so maybe in the summer I'll try this again. I did wear Poppy Pop from Clinique when I first got it and it is a great lipstick and the perfect handbag size. It is a mixture between Ruby Woo and In Love With Ginger. I don't remember why I bought Julianne's Pure Red lipstick, I think I just saw it one day and bought it straight away. It is the brightest of all the reds and I should really wear it more.

However, when I started thinking about writing this post, I realised that I don't really wear red lipsticks that much anymore in comparison to other shades. Recently I have been in a phase of more darker nudes and before that I was into darker lip colours. I still wear red lipsticks occasionally but not as much as I used to. I don't think that I am over red lipsticks and I still like to wear them on occasion, but I think the red lipstick might not be the star of the show that I feel like it used to be. Now, this might just be me and I know that a red lip will never leave the beauty world as a iconic makeup look and who knows, in a few months it might be all I wear!

How do you feel about red lipsticks? Do you have a shade of red that you will always go for or do you like to wear a variety of shades? Also are you like me and find yourself not as drawn to red lipstick anymore?

Ellyn xx


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1 comment

  1. Great post! I usually tend to stick with more nude colour lipsticks or brown tones as I usually like to match a colour similar to my normal lip colour however I'm not very brave when it comes to red lipsticks, its taken me years to find the exact shade that I feel doesn't wash me out or find one that warms my face. I've tried a few different shades but have only found one from rimmel that suits me. I ended up going to a makeup counter of a different brand and asking what shade they recommend for my skin tone, that's the only way I worked it out haha and noticed it for myself now that I know I stick to that which is helpful when decluttering my makeup haha!

    VioletDaffodils
    xx

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