ONE
Don’t play up your eyes and your mouth at the same time. If you’re going to wear red lipstick, go light on the makeup. If you want to accentuate your eyes, go for a lighter shade on the lips. If you really want to do both, perhaps wait until October 31.
TWO
If you want fuller, plumper lips, before you consider having your lips filled with a foreign substance, try applying a liner just outside your natural lip line. It works brilliantly and gives an instantly natural lip plump without having to resort to a collagen-laced sharp metal object.
THREE
Speaking of lip liner, you can make your lipstick last longer if you use a liner as a base by filling in your lips with the liner to create a strong foundation. If you’re using light lipstick, use a nude liner. You can also color in lips with a darker liner to mute a lipstick that’s too bright.
FOUR
Never use a dark liner with light lipstick. Defined lips are great, but make sure the liner matches your lipstick or risk the Malawi Blue Dolphin look (Google it, it’s not a good look!).
FIVE
If you’re not certain how many lips have tested the tester lipstick before you, test it on your fingertips, because your fingertips are a far closer match to your lips than the back of your hand. Then simply hold your newly adorned fingertip, tip up, against your cheek to see how well the lipstick matches your skin colour. A tip: for all those Austin Powers fans, if you use your pinky finger to do this it makes for a hilarious Dr. Evil impersonation.
SIX
Avoiding the classic red-toothed smile. Immediately after you’ve applied your lipstick, discretely place your index finger in your mouth, gently close your lips around it, then pull it out. The excess lipstick will come off on your finger rather than your teeth. Be absolutely sure not to do this whilst looking in the direction of any male in the room as It tends to have unintended consequences.
SEVEN
To avoid leaving lipstick on your glass, simply lick your lips before taking a sip. Once again, be discrete, but if there happens to be a hot guy across the other side of the bar, well … use your own discretion.
EIGHT
The older you are, the creamier your lips should look. Unfortunately, our lips thin as we … mature. So if you are past your second 18th birthday (or simply weren’t near the front of the line when lips were handed out) avoid matte and gloss and stick with a creamier lipstick. One other tip for thin lips: dark lipstick shades are evil – avoid at all costs.
NINE
Although you may love a particular lipstick shade on a friend, that doesn’t automatically mean it will look good on you. Orangey reds, warm reds, tomato reds, brown based reds, golden reds and tawny reds look amazing on those lucky enough to be amongst the 20% of women with warm skin tones, but for the rest of us they don’t. In other words, if Holiday Barbie is your friend, her lipstick probably isn’t!
TEN
If you think it looks wrong, you’re probably right!
By Adam Coutts