How to Wear Bold Red Lips

Here are my top 3 tips when it comes to wearing red lips, no lip liner required. Are you ready?
Shirt Christopher Esber (worn here pre-pregnancy) Maternity Jeans Ripe Heels Zara Earrings Waif Lipstick Sephora Rouge in ‘The Red’

I love wearing bold red lips whenever the occasion calls for it.

In the past I tended to shy away from it as it draws way too much attention to my mouth, and the thought of lipstick-stained teeth and ‘half-eaten’ lips were not appealing either. The allure of that classic Parisian makeup however was too strong to resist so I decided to take the risk and experiment with red lipsticks, wishing and hoping that I could make it work. Like many of you would have suspected, it took many trials and a lot of patience to find a method of application that suits me. Although it is very much a statement look, I tend to favour a more non-chalent and messier finish as it feels less high-maintenance and more accessible.

Here are my top 3 tips when it comes to wearing red lips, no lip liner required. Are you ready? #1. Prepare a good canvas to work on. What do I mean by that? A good canvas in this case refers to well-hydrated lips. This provides a smoother and more even surface for you to work with and this is so important as you don’t want to highlight all the cracks on your lips. I like to put on a good coat of lip balm and let it sink in for at least 10 minutes before attempting to put any lipstick on. This works well for me as I would normally work on the other parts of my face first and leave the lip section till the last.

#2. Choose a lipstick that works for you. This requires loads of experimentation and open-mindedness. Admittedly I don’t normally allocate a lot of budget for makeup so red lipstick shopping can be agonising especially when I just want to buy the one that works. The lipstick that I’ve used here is a Sephora-branded one that was given to me by my mom. I’ve used it for more than a year now and it’s still going strong! The formulation is reasonably creamy and I like the way the colour looks on my skin.

#3. Blot, blot, and blot The key to a long staying power is blotting in my opinion. I like to first apply a thin layer, smudge it with my lips and blot the excess with a piece of tissue paper. I would then repeat this step many more times and build the colour up until I’m satisfied with it. If the colour goes out of the line of my actual lips, I would simply clean it up with some clean cotton buds of clean fingers. I much prefer to use my fingers as they are better at blurring the edge of my lips (for that slightly unfinished look that I normally go for). If there’s an obvious red cast along the outside the line of your lips, simply apply some creamy concealer or foundation and voila, you’re ready to go. It’s also important to let the colour set for a little while before attempting to eat or drink.

I’m constantly amazed by how long-lasting this method of application is. My lips left minimal stain on the water glass that day and I still had colour on my lips after dinner (mind you I didn’t do anything form of retouching all day).

Yes, red lips do take a lot more effort than usual to wear.

Yes, they are intimidating and

Yes, they do make us a lot more self-conscious but by the end of the day, red lips are just a part of our makeup that could be easily removed so why not have fun with it?

To all of you curious ladies out there, what are you waiting for?

x

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