August 30, 2007

Fall trend alert: passionate puckers

The "it" look for Fall 2007 is pure glamour—and what could be more glamorous than a sexy red pout that just screams "bombshell?"

No question about it, ladies: this is a bold look that takes skill and strategy to pull off. Fortunately, Julyne Derrick of About.com: Beauty is here to demystify the perfect crimson pout. Just stick to Julyne's five simple rules and you'll do just fine:

Rule No. 1: The secret lies in the rest of your face. Go easy on the eye makeup and blush to avoid the circus-clown-slash-aging-drag-queen look.

Rule No. 2: Line inside of lips. The bolder the color, the more vigilant you need to be in preventing bleeding, else your carefully crafted pout will quickly melt into a hot mess. Start by filling the lips in with liner; this creates a matte foundation that helps color stay put.

More rules after the jump.

Rule No. 3: Pick the right color. I think this is the most critical rule, because nothing looks sadder than a gal who's all pouted up in the wrong shade. Picking the right one is easy enough and, believe it or not, has nothing to do with your skin shade, eye color, or hair color. What it does have to do with is undertones. If your skin has cool undertones (i.e. you look best in cool colors such as blue, pink, and purple as well as in silver jewelry), look for blue-undertoned shades such as magenta, blue-red, and mauve. If your skin has golden undertones (i.e. you look best in warm colors such as peach, gold, warm brown, and green as well as in gold jewelry), stick with yellow-undertoned shades such as brick, raisin, and coral. If you're not sure, do a little experimentation to find out which colors you look and feel your best in.

Rule No. 4: Don't let nails clash. If you don't match your nails perfectly with your lips (which to me is just a bit too 1980s matchy-matchy), stick with a clear coat or subtle sheer. Just think of how much time your hands spend close to your face and you'll understand why.

Rule No. 5: Blending is in. Julyne reminds us that makeup artists rarely use just one color in creating a look. If you've bought a shade that's not quite right, try experimenting with different hues of liner, gloss, or other lipsticks—you might just wind up with a perfect match.

I'd add my own Rule No. 6 to that list: Match your attitude. Hot red lips are a bold statement, so rock it to the max with a little extra sway in the hips, a sassy toss of the hair, and the occasional wink that says "Ignore me at your own risk, honey!"

Posted by: hellooooogorgeous at 08:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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