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How to Choose the Best Lip Color

Makeup trends come and go, and for autumn 2018 one of the hottest trends is the bold red lip. This is a tough one to master because, although the color can work for almost anyone, you have to know precisely which type of red works for you. In fact, figuring out how to choose the best lip color for your complexion, in general, is an incredibly empowering skill. Because of that, we are going to go over the different steps you’ll need to follow in order to make all of the right decisions about lip color. Doing this also enables you to understand how to choose the right palette in any makeup – eye, lip, blush, and more.  So let’s dig in to find out how to choose the best lip color…

Start With Skin Tone and Undertone

If your goal is to get an answer to the question of “How to choose the best lip color for me?”, it has to begin with your skin tone, and something known as the undertone. As one expert said of this matter, though, “There are so many different undertones, consistencies, and finishes that make a trip to the makeup aisle seem more like a task than a fun jaunt.”

They go on to say that it is not really a daunting thing if you know about your skin’s undertone. As they wrote, “First and foremost, it helps tremendously to know your skin’s undertone. This little detail can actually assist in many fields of beauty and fashion, so it’s great to have it in your arsenal.”

Now, when you read the words tone and undertone, you might start to think something like, “Great…now I have to figure out if I have olive greens, purply blues or something else, right?”

The good news is that the answer to that is a simple: no. You have either a warm or a cool undertone, or you are what can be called a “neutral”, which is just a balance of both tones. How can you tell? Answer the following questions:

• Does your skin have a bluish, pink or red tone?
• Do the veins at your wrist appear to be blue?
• Do you blush very easily?
• Do you look good wearing blue, purples, emerald green or vibrant pink?
• Do you look best in silver jewelry?
• If you buy foundation makeups, do they have names like porcelain, cocoa, sable or rose?

If you answered yes to these questions, you are a cool tone

• Does your skin have a more yellow, gold or olive hue?
• Do the veins at your wrist appear to be greenish? If so, you are a warm tone
• Do the veins at your wrist have both bluish to greenish tones?
• Do you tan very easily?
• Do you look good wearing earth tones, olive, orange, and red?
• When you buy foundation makeups do they have names like caramel, beige, golden or tan?
• Do you look best in gold jewelry?

If you answered yes to these questions, you are a warm tone.

• Do your veins appear BOTH bluish to greenish?
• Do you look good in either gold or silver?
• If you buy foundation makeups do they have names like buff, nude, or ivory?

If so, you are the fortunate owner of a neutral skin tone (which is often described as a balance of yellow and pink tone)

Notice That We Did Not Touch on Hair Color?

This is because it does not always factor into the determination of your skin’s tone or undertones. It is also not a huge consideration with how to choose the best lip color. If you do find that your choice is clashing with your hair (i.e. the fair-skinned person who tries an orange-hued lipstick), it is not because of your hair but because the undertone (yellowish orange) does not work with your skin’s undertones.

Keep in mind that you will need to pay attention to your lip’s size as you choose lipsticks, too. This is because those with thinner lips – no matter what tone or undertone, need to keep away from darker shades. This is because they can overemphasize the thinness and smallness of the lips. Instead, no matter what shade you choose, if your lips are very thin, go for a gloss or creamy color to boost the visual size of the lips.

What you can do with this knowledge about your tone and undertone? It is very helpful because it lets you take the next step forward in selecting the right lipstick for your complexion, but it is also helpful in choosing the right creams, foundations and more.

Related: What’s All the Hype With Liquid Lipstick?

What Is The Surface Color?

Of course, we totally skipped the issue of your “surface” color which is as important as noting the undertones. Most of us are described as fair, light, medium or dark. These are just terms used to categorize the amount of pigmentation in your skin.

• Fair people have pale skin and often burn quickly in the sun
• Light skinned people may be just as pale or fair, but there will be more distinct yellow or even tan to beige undertones
• Medium skinned people may also be seen as having an olive complexion
• Dark skinned people have darker hues and deeper pigmentation, with complexions ranging from a rich and dark tan to a deep bluish black

If you struggle to tell which surface tone applies to you, the area around your jawline is often the most accurate and can help you pinpoint even slighter variations. If you are stuck, ask an expert or simply ask a friend to tell you what they think the skin at your jawline appears to be.

Keep in mind that anyone’s surface tone changes from season to season, with the appearance or disappearance of skin conditions and even with the amount of hydration in the skin. A regular routine of skin care can help to control your surface tone. For example, daily cleansing, toning, and moisturizing along with periodic exfoliation prevents skin from getting dully, dry and lined. It keeps circulation at peak levels and ensure you have a healthy and bright complexion at all times.

Related: Makeup for Your Skin Tone

Choosing the Right Hues

Now that you have a stronger grasp on your skin’s tone and undertone, we can begin to consider the right colors in lipstick (and even other makeup).

Cool Undertones – If you are someone who is authentically cooler in your undertones, the lipstick hues that work best for you have undertones that lean more towards blue and darker purples. In other words, if you wanted to follow this season’s trend for bolder red lips, you would avoid any red that had hints of orange or spice. Instead, you would go for the dramatic, deeper reds or even the delicate pink.

Warmer Undertones – If you believe you have tested out to a warmer undertone, the colors you want to choose will be those with warmer undertones such as very bright red to orangish colors. Fiery hues will look good on you, but so too will nude shades and corals.

Neutral Undertones – Consider yourself fortunate because you can wear a diversity of hues and yet you do need to pay attention to the colors that might seem “off”. For example, one person with a more neutral tone or undertone may look great in a brighter yellow, while another person who has neutral undertones may look horrible in that shade. It could be that your hair and eyes are not a good fit, or it could be that you have pigmentation that causes you to clash a bit with certain hues. Where lipsticks go, most neutrals can easily pull off rich wine, bolder reds, and even saturated pink lips.

And if after all of this you still feel overwhelmed when standing at a beauty counter or in the cosmetics section of your nearest pharmacy, remember this adage: “The most flattering lip tones will be one or two shades darker than your natural lip color”.  If you can find a lipstick that looks great when you are not wearing any other makeup, it is likely that it will be close to your natural shade. This is true whether it is glossy or matte, a tint or full-blown lipstick, and you’ll want to pay attention to this little trick if you are unsure about which lipstick to choose.

How Do You Test a Color?

Experts say that you can often trust the colors printed outside of a box, such as the dot signifying the color. You should just hold it up next to your face and lips, gaze into a mirror and determine if you like the looks of it against your face. Even better is to take it to the nearest window or area with natural light, and gauge how it looks against your face in authentic light.

And if you hate it? You always want to purchase your cosmetics from shops or stores that have realistic return policies. Find out if opened makeup can be returned, and if not, you’ll need to be prepared to keep it or give it away to a lucky friend. You might also try to blend it to get a color that works for you. For instance, maybe it needed to be toned down? If so you can do just that with a darker shade of lip liner applied before you put on a coat of lipstick. And with mention of lip liners…

Lip Liner and Your Lips

One thing that a lot of people fail to do is to consider how lip liner might be used to their benefit. It is a great trick for darkening the lips, increasing or decreasing their size, or simply getting the cleanest look possible. It is a great tool for getting your lipstick to remain in place longer, but you need to start with a good base if you want the best results.

That means a few things:

• Exfoliate the lips on a regular basis
• Moisturize the lips at all times
• Determine whether you want or need to accent one lip over the other

Exfoliating ensures your lipstick goes on smoothly and you don’t struggle with flaking or peeling skin. Moisturizing does the same and promises you a kissable mouth even if you go basic with nothing more than a tint or a bit of lip gloss. Even if you opt for a nude lip (which is among the hottest makeup trends as 2018 comes to a close) the use of exfoliating and moisturizing keeps your lips looking and feeling their best.

If you do want to use a lip liner, though, you’ll have to do so based on your goals. Did you want a more natural look? Did you want a very defined look? Here are our tips:

• Choose your lip liner color based on your needs. Go for a neutral, natural color if you just want a cleaner or more natural look to your lipstick. If you want formal looks, choose a liner in a similar hue to the lipstick you’ll wear
• Apply after lipstick for a softer, more natural finish
• Apply before for a very clean and crisp application of lipstick and for longer wearing looks. It can also be a great color base

Just try to always keep in mind that you need to experiment with your looks. As an example, you can opt to downplay your lips and put emphasis on the eyes. If that is your choice, then a more natural or even tonally neutral hue is a good call. You also need to remember that the shape of your lips and the brightness or whiteness of your teeth shouldn’t be ignored. As an example, you might opt for a more neutral lip because you are making a day look and your lips are on the larger side. Yet, when you chose a mocha hued color, it might have emphasized that your teeth are not as white as they can be.

It would be a lie to say that selecting your lipstick is not a bit tricky, but you can use all that you have learned here to begin mastering the art of makeup selection. Starting with the lips can make the rest of it much easier and help you improve and really customize your look!

More Great Resources:

HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR SKIN TONE (READ THIS BEFORE BUYING FOUNDATION!)

10 Makeup Artists Share Their Best Tricks for Choosing the Right Lip Color

HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR SKIN TONE BEFORE BUYING FACE PRODUCTS

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