Siren-Red Lipstick for Warm-toned Gals
For years, I mean YEARS, I have been searching for the Perfect red lipstick. I adore lipstick and don't leave home without it. I've been a lipstick fiend ever since I was a kid and playing around with my mother's lipsticks (she is a lipstick fiend too—at 84!). My face may be no great shakes, but b'gosh, I have lips. So why not accentuate them?
As a red-head (whether by nurture or by nature, only my hairdresser knows for sure), I have to be careful, though. One smidge toward the cool side of the red spectrum and, egad—the dreaded FUSCHIA lips phenomenon occurs. Fuchsia is what lipstick that is slightly pink-red turns into if you are unlucky. And fuchsia is enough to make onlookers run screaming for the exit when a red-head sports it. Way better to err on the orange side of the red spectrum and go too warm.
For a fair-skinned redhead to find just the right shade of warm-toned, voluptuous, unafraid red lip product, well, it's taken decades. And believe me, I've sunk untold funds into the search. Just today I plunked down $10 for a red lip pen that looked perfect on my skin, but then gradually changed to fuchsia/magenta on my lips (as every gal who is seriously into lipsticks knows, the color of your lip skin and your body chemistry both affect the color of your lipstick when it's on. Not like you can return lip products, either.) Now repeat this experience at least once a month for every year I've been wearing lipstick, and you've got some serious bucks—mostly wasted!
So over the years and over the dollars and over the many, MANY dreaded fuschia lips encounters, I have come up with a short, read: tiny, list of the perfect red lipsticks.
Here are a few you can count on the be brilliant reds that will never turn fuschia on you:
Chanel, Rouge Coromandel, #70. Perfect. Gorgeous. Pefectly gorgeous. The exact red I have always dreamed of. Lights up a red-head's face (see photo of me wearing it at right). Sure to win you admirers and hangers-on. One challenge, though—it is bright red—unforgiving, not for the shy. To wear in the daytime requires fortitude—or maybe a sheer base of clear lip gloss to make it a bit less opaque. But still—the perfect red!
Besamé Cosmetics, Red Hot Red. Besamé has got to be the coolest cosmetics company alive today. Fashioned after the glamorous look of the 1940s—when women wore bright red lipstick during the day—unabashedly—with curvy fitted suits, stacked heels, hats, and yes, gloves—in that era, beautiful compacts were IN. And inside those lovely little compacts were bold, vixenish colors. Souffle make-up. Rich, matte lipsticks. The kind of art-compacts you'd be proud to flash in public. Now, finally, a red lipstick for women who do not wear fushcia. For Spring- and Autumn-toned skin. A warm red. A sexy red. Gorgeous. Perfect. Spicy. Scrumptious. Unbelievable. Hot, hot, Red Hot Red! Smells yummy too—a light vanilla with a creamy feel. This is full-coverage, semi-matte lipstick. Not for the faint-of-heart.
M.A.C, Chili. My spectacular and most beloved everyday warm-toned red lipstick. It's a semi-matte—which I adore—and the right shade of red with a slight brick undertone. It's a more wearable, less screaming red than the two listed above because of the brown in its base. But this is not a matronly shade—far from it. Its sexiness is lucid and luring but there's a hint of 50s glam and fun. Best of all, M.A.C. lipsticks are both long-wearing, do not kiss off easiliy, and are delightfully vanilla scented. When I glide on my M.A.C. Chili, I feel suddenly delicious. All you need, my dear warm-toned sister, is this lipstick, some big sunglasses and sunscreen, and you are ready to roll. Or to be kissed. Or maybe both. If you check out the M.A.C. website, don't be fooled by the online depiction of this shade. Chili is much more scrumptious than it appears there.
Boots No 7, Stay Perfect Lipstick, Spice, #65. Boots LLC has just come to the States—at least this is the first I've seen of their products. Boots makes a lovely long-lasting lipstick called "Stay Perfect" that will NOT dry out your lips. It glides on, feels silky, and, b'gosh, it lasts. I got my perfect shade of red—an elegant brickish red—for about $10 at Target. Next to M.A.C. Chili, Boots No 7 in Spice is the best everyday red you can find. Looks grand enough for play too, though. Doesn't have the scrumptious vanilla fragrance that M.A.C. has, but it costs less and last longer. The colors are similar too, with Boots No 7 Spice being slightly less vibrant and therefore more wearable.
Cheats for Fuchsia Lip Sufferers
If you already have plenty of pink-red lipsticks and you want to do the best you can to make these work for a Spring- or Autumn-toned coloring, you still have options without spending a fortune. The best thing you can do to compromise is layer colors with your fuchsia lipstick. Since pink is the color you want to neutralize, you need a brown or orange layered on top to move the pink toward the warmer end of the spectrum. Look for beiges, tans, browns, and even oranges. Any of these will neutralize your pinkish lipsticks and make them more appropriate for warm-toned gals. Beiges will dissipate the pink without darkening, brown will shift the pink while darkening it slightly (making lipstick more brick).Orange
As a red-head (whether by nurture or by nature, only my hairdresser knows for sure), I have to be careful, though. One smidge toward the cool side of the red spectrum and, egad—the dreaded FUSCHIA lips phenomenon occurs. Fuchsia is what lipstick that is slightly pink-red turns into if you are unlucky. And fuchsia is enough to make onlookers run screaming for the exit when a red-head sports it. Way better to err on the orange side of the red spectrum and go too warm.
For a fair-skinned redhead to find just the right shade of warm-toned, voluptuous, unafraid red lip product, well, it's taken decades. And believe me, I've sunk untold funds into the search. Just today I plunked down $10 for a red lip pen that looked perfect on my skin, but then gradually changed to fuchsia/magenta on my lips (as every gal who is seriously into lipsticks knows, the color of your lip skin and your body chemistry both affect the color of your lipstick when it's on. Not like you can return lip products, either.) Now repeat this experience at least once a month for every year I've been wearing lipstick, and you've got some serious bucks—mostly wasted!
So over the years and over the dollars and over the many, MANY dreaded fuschia lips encounters, I have come up with a short, read: tiny, list of the perfect red lipsticks.
Here are a few you can count on the be brilliant reds that will never turn fuschia on you:
Chanel, Rouge Coromandel, #70. Perfect. Gorgeous. Pefectly gorgeous. The exact red I have always dreamed of. Lights up a red-head's face (see photo of me wearing it at right). Sure to win you admirers and hangers-on. One challenge, though—it is bright red—unforgiving, not for the shy. To wear in the daytime requires fortitude—or maybe a sheer base of clear lip gloss to make it a bit less opaque. But still—the perfect red!
Besamé Cosmetics, Red Hot Red. Besamé has got to be the coolest cosmetics company alive today. Fashioned after the glamorous look of the 1940s—when women wore bright red lipstick during the day—unabashedly—with curvy fitted suits, stacked heels, hats, and yes, gloves—in that era, beautiful compacts were IN. And inside those lovely little compacts were bold, vixenish colors. Souffle make-up. Rich, matte lipsticks. The kind of art-compacts you'd be proud to flash in public. Now, finally, a red lipstick for women who do not wear fushcia. For Spring- and Autumn-toned skin. A warm red. A sexy red. Gorgeous. Perfect. Spicy. Scrumptious. Unbelievable. Hot, hot, Red Hot Red! Smells yummy too—a light vanilla with a creamy feel. This is full-coverage, semi-matte lipstick. Not for the faint-of-heart.
M.A.C, Chili. My spectacular and most beloved everyday warm-toned red lipstick. It's a semi-matte—which I adore—and the right shade of red with a slight brick undertone. It's a more wearable, less screaming red than the two listed above because of the brown in its base. But this is not a matronly shade—far from it. Its sexiness is lucid and luring but there's a hint of 50s glam and fun. Best of all, M.A.C. lipsticks are both long-wearing, do not kiss off easiliy, and are delightfully vanilla scented. When I glide on my M.A.C. Chili, I feel suddenly delicious. All you need, my dear warm-toned sister, is this lipstick, some big sunglasses and sunscreen, and you are ready to roll. Or to be kissed. Or maybe both. If you check out the M.A.C. website, don't be fooled by the online depiction of this shade. Chili is much more scrumptious than it appears there.
Boots No 7, Stay Perfect Lipstick, Spice, #65. Boots LLC has just come to the States—at least this is the first I've seen of their products. Boots makes a lovely long-lasting lipstick called "Stay Perfect" that will NOT dry out your lips. It glides on, feels silky, and, b'gosh, it lasts. I got my perfect shade of red—an elegant brickish red—for about $10 at Target. Next to M.A.C. Chili, Boots No 7 in Spice is the best everyday red you can find. Looks grand enough for play too, though. Doesn't have the scrumptious vanilla fragrance that M.A.C. has, but it costs less and last longer. The colors are similar too, with Boots No 7 Spice being slightly less vibrant and therefore more wearable.
Cheats for Fuchsia Lip Sufferers
If you already have plenty of pink-red lipsticks and you want to do the best you can to make these work for a Spring- or Autumn-toned coloring, you still have options without spending a fortune. The best thing you can do to compromise is layer colors with your fuchsia lipstick. Since pink is the color you want to neutralize, you need a brown or orange layered on top to move the pink toward the warmer end of the spectrum. Look for beiges, tans, browns, and even oranges. Any of these will neutralize your pinkish lipsticks and make them more appropriate for warm-toned gals. Beiges will dissipate the pink without darkening, brown will shift the pink while darkening it slightly (making lipstick more brick).
