Whether it’s date night, girls night, a lunch date or a business meeting, red lips are a versatile look that gives any situation a stylish pop.
Most people love the look of red lips but don’t know how to rock them or think they can’t pull it off. Well, I’m here to say that red lips are simpler than you thought. All it takes is a little guts and a good red lip stain!
When doing red lips, I prefer to use lip stain to lip stick. Both will do the trick, but I find lip stain to be a trendier alternative. In order to demonstrate the ease of red lips, I decided to use my friend Hillary as my model. Readers, meet Hillary!
For this edition of StyLISAtion, I decided to demonstrate how red lips will work for day or night. Let’s start with night.
For nighttime looks, I like to do hairstyles that are opposite of my usual. My hair is naturally curly, so when I go out at night, I like to rock a straight haired ’do to make myself look different than I always do. Hillary typically wears her hair straight, so I decided to give her some natural looking curls for her night out!
To get Hillary’s look, I suggest using a one-inch curling iron or wand. Gather hair in one-inch wide strands and wrap them around the barrel of the curling iron. For ringlet-looking curls, wrap the hair tightly around the barrel so that the barrel of the curling iron isn’t visible. For looser, more natural looking curls like Hillary’s, wrap the strands of hair more loosely around the barrel. Lightly spray the hair with hairspray, and your curls are ready to withstand the fun wherever the night takes you!
When doing red lips, it’s important to remember to keep the rest of your makeup simple to avoid over-doing it. No one likes too much makeup!
For Hillary’s eye makeup, I decided to use neutral tones that would complement the red lips. To get this look, use a natural bronzy tan. I used Ulta’s “Trendsetter.” I brushed some gold eye shadow over it to give it a little more dimension. I put a slightly darker bronze in the creases and a cream highlight just under her brow. I used black eyeliner on her top and bottom lids. For the top lids, I like to use a thinner line toward the tear ducts and then thicken it as it goes out towards the temples. It makes the eyes look bigger and gives a more dramatic look to this simple makeup. To dress the makeup up a bit, I used a pink blush on the apples of her cheeks.
Now its time to complete the look with bright red lips! On Hillary, I used CoverGirl Outlast Lip Stain.
Now you’re ready to rock your look out on the town! Pair this look with a pair of earrings with complementary color in order to offset your ruby lips. I paired Hillary’s pout with some bright peacock earrings. Be ready for compliments and stares, and expect your friends to want to copy your look. But don’t worry – imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!
Now it’s time to transition this look from night to day. If you’re lucky enough to be able to keep your curls in the morning, there’s still a way to bring this look in to the next day. By transitioning your eye makeup, you can rock red lips to class, on a lunch date, or even on a beach day.
First, I used the same black eyeliner to line the top and bottom lids. For eye shadow, I used a bright gold to make Hillary look luminous and fresh. I did a thin black liner and then covered it with the eye shadow so it wasn’t so dramatic. I then applied some mascara and coated her lips with the same bright red CoverGirl lip stain.
To keep red from looking too over done for daytime, I like to pair it with simple and girly floral prints or light colors. I especially love red lips with navy and pale pink. To complete Hillary’s look, I had her wear some gold dangly earrings.
Voilà! You now have a look that plays up your lips in an obvious but stylish way. Now that you’ve mastered the art of red lips, go rock yours. Whether it’s day or night, this hot and trendy look will do the trick!