How to: Red Lips

Red lips are beautiful and timeless, quintessential and classic. The best part about wearing red lipstick is that it is a very versatile look, and there exists and shade of red for every lip in the world! Here's some info on how to get the right look.

The first thing to keep in mind while choosing a red lipstick is your skin undertone. Warm undertones would be better sticking to a warmer red, with tones of orange or yellow. Cool undertones should stick to blue/pink reds.

warm red

cool red

Make sure you experiment with different lipstick formula as well. There are a million things available these days. Choose wisely from choices like matte lipsticks, creamy lipsticks, sheer lipsticks, stains, liquid lip-color and lip-gloss. Red lips generally look best without shimmer (in my opinion), but there are always exceptions to everything.

Once you have found your perfect red(s), you need to work on your whole look. While wearing led lips, all the rest of the makeup should be kept to a minimum because the red lips should be the highlight on your face. Keep the eyeshadows light, go heavy on the eyeliner and mascara, use a natural blush.

Another important thing to keep in mind is your skin tone. Make sure you use a foundation/concealer that is close to your natural skin color, and blend, blend, blend. Red lips look best on a smooth and even face.

1. Start by moisturizing your face. I prefer finishing the eye makeup before moving on to the foundation. Prime your eyelids (optional for this look). Pick an eyeshadow with light shimmer, close to the color of your eyelids. For me, it was a dull gold color. You can pick from shades like peach, beige, champagne, or even white. I also applied some loose powder under my eye so that it will be easier to clean any fallout.





2. Use a matte brown eyeshadow, 2 shades darker than your lid, in the crease area. Using a back and forth motion, blend it well, into the crease. This is how we create a gradient for a soft look. Go over the same area with a darker brown, to deepen the crease if you wish. Make sure to blend very well.






3. Line your waterline with a white pencil/eye shadow to make your eyes appear bigger and brighter. Also highlight your brow bone and the inner corner of your eye.








4. Finally, lightly line your lower lash line with a dark brown shadow, apply black eyeliner and mascara. Blend in the loose powder or simply wipe it off. Play up your lashes as much as you want!








5. Finish the rest of your face with foundation, concealer and blush. If you are contouring, I would suggest you avoid shimmer for highlighting and use a matte powder instead. Another trick to achieve natural looking contouring and highlighting is to use shades of foundation/concealer that are lighter and darker. Once these are blended out well and set with powder, nobody will even be able to tell that  you used makeup to sculpt your face! And you're done