A Guide to Going Red – Achieving the Perfect Crimson Pout

I was never one to shy away from wearing makeup, especially red lipstick.  Wearing red lipstick for most of us is like wearing high-heels, either you do or you don’t.  I definitely wear red lipstick and try not to wear high-heels, although I’ve been known to sport a pair on occasion.

The women I admired in my youth were Diana Vreeland, the Duchess of Windsor, Coco Chanel and Babe Paley.  I associated red lipstick with strong, successful, stylish and glamorous women.  These amazing women understood the power and allure that only a great red can give.  Red lipstick is the equivalent of a man’s power tie.

Red Lips are a statement, like a great piece of jewelry, heels or that much coveted handbag.  I wore the same shade of red lipstick throughout my twenties, until it was discontinued.  Since then I’ve been searching for that perfect shade of red, and realized that no two shades of red are alike.

Red can be intimidating, but red doesn’t mean a full siren mouth.  Here is a quick and easy guide to the rules of wearing red.

1) There isn’t ONE perfect shade of red for every woman – There are so many gorgeous shades suitable for every skin tone.  The objective is to try on as many as possible and look in the mirror, which shade makes you look brighter, fresher, more radiant.

2) Never wear red with heavy makeup –  When wearing red the rest of our makeup pallet should be underdone and super-casual.  The quickest way to add age to your appearance is to wear heavy makeup.

3) It’s okay to dump the matching lip pencil – a more modern approach to wearing red is to build color by using a lip brush or your finger tip.

4) Keep your options open – Sometimes the texture of a red lipstick can be intimidating, there are many new formulations of red, there are glosses, stains, tints, glazes, matte, sheer and shimmers.

5) Remove the thoughts of associating red lips with sexual connotations –  red lipstick is the quickest youth- giving, skin-illuminating, eye- brightening beauty trick around.

Remember that you can achieve red without wearing red – bricks, berries, and sheer red glosses give the effect of wearing red without being high maintenance – Melissa Prestinario, Makeup Artist Chanel Cosmetics.

If your’e wearing red for the first time, try brighter shades in sheer textures, or apply red with a lip brush for that gorgeous buildable color.

I  personally love red lipstick because it gives me that Je ne sais qua that only a great red can give.

Red gets a TEN!

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