The Restorative Powers Of Bright Lipstick

Anyone else think lipstick has magical powers? Whenever I'm feeling a bit blah or like I'm stuck in a bit of a makeup rut, nothing thrills me more than swiping on a bright, cheery colour. It's like serotonin in a tube! As you can see from the excellent Cara Delevingne and the plethora of lovely ladies below, bright lipstick doesn't really need much more than a bit of mascara, some blush or bronzer and maybe a spot of eyeliner. With lipstick, prep and application is everything. Bright colours will obviously bring attention to your mouth and matte textures in particular, will highlight dry, flaky lips like nothing else. So give your kisser a bit of a scrub after you brush your teeth and use a lip brush for precise application and you'll be totally golden.

Hot pink is probably one of the easier colours to pull off when easing a toe into the highly pigmented pool of bright lip colour. I personally love the intense matte version of the bright pink lip (bottom left) but a more subtle variation would be to press a creamy pink lipstick onto your lips, aiming for a pretty flush of colour like my mate Nat Portman. Pink lipsticks can bring attention to any redness in your skin so make sure your pelt is in tip top shape! Warmer pinks will suit girls with golden undertones in their skin whereas blue based pinks look super pretty on ladies with cooler skin tones like  my girl Abbey Lee Kershaw up there. 

I absolutely LOVE orange lipstick. It goes without saying that you will definitely be needing your lady bollocks to wear these shades! Red based oranges like that worn by old mate Scarlett Johanssen look great when worn with a bit of bronzer, lots of mascara and some white eyeliner swiped on your waterline. I think orange lipstick is best worn in a super casual, daytime sort of way so that it kind of says "Orange lips? Ain't nothin' but a thang! I'm always this awesome." See Ms Jessica Szohr for an excellent example of this. One thing to note when wearing orange lip colour; it can make your teeth look more yellow than they are. Boo! So you have two choices here: either make sure your teeth whitening appointments are up to date or learn to smile with your mouth closed. As Tyra says; SMIZE!

Okay, confession time; I'm still too much of a wuss to try out purple lipstick! It's just so FIERCE! That being said, the more I look at my imaginary celebrity best friend Emma Stone, the more I think it's doable. I think the trick here is to either pare back your make up to the bare essentials (mascara, blush, liner) and make the colour the star of the show OR go for absolute broke and pretend you're in a Vogue editorial! 

Now here's a double dare for us; I promise to try wearing a purple lip if you'll promise to try wearing a bright lip colour at least once a week! Bright lipstick: it's good for the soul, people! 

Over and out!