How to Rock a Bold Lip

You may have noticed over the past few weeks that I’ve been experimenting more and more with lip color. I think everybody looks better with a little bit of color on their lips—even something as simple as a tinted gloss can brighten your face and make you look more alive. I don’t generally wear makeup, but lip product is something I often use. After testing out bolder and brighter colors over the last month or two (with today’s shade being the brightest yet!), I’m finally ready to share some tips. 🙂

Start Small. If you realize you want to try lip color, start with something a little less bold as you get the hang of it. Tinted lip balms can be great to give your face a splash of color without being in-your-face or uncomfortable on your lips.

Wear a Colorful Outfit. Today’s outfit is pretty colorful, and the sweater has a lot of similar colors to my shade of lipstick. I feel like by incorporating the color of your lips elsewhere in the outfit, you tone it down and make it less noticeable. Imagine if I had worn a white sundress instead—the super bright lips would’ve been the center of attention!

Just Smudge the Lipstick. When I was just starting out with lipstick, and sometimes I still do this, I don’t apply it fully. Rather, I dab the stick across my lips and then rub them together. This results in some lip color, but it’s much less bright and severe compared to putting on the lipstick like normal. I did that at my second prom in this black gown, but the shade didn’t show up great in those particular photos.

Blot with a Tissue. The other thing I like to do after applying lipstick is kissing a tissue. By just gently resting your lips against the cloth, you remove a lot of the extra pigment and make it more even across your lips.

Use Whitening Strips. If you’re worried about how the color of your teeth will look against the brightness of a lipstick, you can use Crest 3D White Strips, which I reviewed here and highly recommend. I’m always worried about how my teeth look myself, but honestly, not many people notice that sort of thing. Unless your teeth are super yellow or you have a really toothy smile, they probably won’t pay much attention to slightly discolored teeth. And the other thing to consider is that it all depends on the lighting, location, and what you’re wearing. Sometimes my teeth look extremely white in photos and then in the next pic it looks like I drink coffee every day. It really just depends, so I wouldn’t sweat it too much.

Skip the Lip Liner. Ah, lip liner…it has had a tricky history. I don’t know much about lip liner, but I do know that you’re supposed to use it in the same shade as your lipstick, not in a completely different shade. You don’t want an actual outline around your lips like the horror makeup of the 80s. The point of it is to simply sharpen the edges of your lipstick and make it more defined. Because it can be hard to use and another thing to buy on top of the lipstick, I’m letting you know it’s okay to skip it is as a beginner. I wore lipstick on the blog in my From Proper to Party: One Dress for Day and Night post without lip liner, and I think it looked great.

Splurge on the Product. Lipstick is one of those items where the quality makes a huge difference in appearance. I’m not saying you need to spend a ton of money on one stick and drugstores have plenty of inexpensive items, but just make sure you’re mindful of the quality. Cheap lipstick cracks and wears funny on your lips, not to mention the colors are often really bad. You don’t want to look like a four year old playing dress-up in mommy’s closet!

Food. This post wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t talk about food. There’s no denying that eating and drinking with lipstick on is uncomfortable—you don’t want to taste it, you don’t want it to wear away awkwardly, and you don’t want to get it on your teeth. I’m sad to say that thus far I have not found any helpful tips for you. Sometimes I make a quick trip to the bathroom before lunch to gently smear off the lipstick; it always leaves some pigment on so it doesn’t look like I completely changed, but then I don’t have to worry about it as much until I reapply after eating. Other times I have just left the lipstick on as I ate. I realized it’s much easier to not worry about it at lunch as long as you make a trip to the bathroom afterwards to make sure it looks okay. When I decided to just eat normally and not worry about the color, I was surprised to find how much of it actually stayed on without getting all over my food or fork. You just have to try what’s most comfortable for you, and if you have any tips of your own, be sure to leave them in the comments below!

My final tip is to wear your bold lip color with confidence! People can tell when you’re feeling timid about an outfit or makeup choice, so just rock the color and enjoy yourself. You may be surprised by the results—I’ve been really nervous to wear lipstick to school before, but those are the days I get the most compliments, especially, “You look so pretty!” If you have any more questions about lip color, please let me know and I’ll do my best to help.

Have a great Monday! (My last Monday of high school ever!)

Miles of smiles,

Grace

Yellow Ruffle Blouse: Kohl’s, $20 // Floral Cardigan: Costco, $20 // Skinny Jeans: A.N.A. via JCPenney, $25 // White Heeled Sandals: Kelly and Katie via DSW, $50 // Yellow Clutch: Charming Charlie, $15