RSSDARK LIPSTICK DOESN’T WORK IN REAL LIFE
April 22, 2008
Dark lipstick looks like you tried too hard. It may work in the fantasy world of magazines but real women live on a different planet. On which of your friends do you think dark lipstick is attractive? Unless you hang out with Catherine Zeta-Jones, prominent lipstick does not work.
Of course, a color that looks dark on me might just be neutral on woman with darkly pigmented skin. Dark on a very pale woman would be light or medium on me. It’s relative to the intensity of your own pigmentation. If someone looking at you would find your lipstick color dark, then that’s dark. Ask your kids, or anyone’s kids. They have natural aversions to dark lipstick on real women and the instincts of children are so accurate, it’s spooky. They’re the best Image Consultants alive.
I can be more specific.
6 Reasons
1. It’s too high maintenance. If it wears off even slightly, it is incredibly noticeable. You could avoid eating or talking all day, and only drink through a straw, but who lives in that world? If you wear it at night, when you’re almost certain to be eating or drinking, it will wear off in no time. What’s the point?
You could talk to me about long-lasting lipsticks. They’re horrible. They get dry and crumbly and it’s even more obvious with a vibrant or darker color. The attached gloss tube is greasy and often leaks or gets so slick that it separates from the color tube. If you rub your lips because they feel dry and you have little pieces stuck to your mouth all day, like terribly chapped lips. This technology has a long way to go. I’ve been stung too many times to ever buy another one. Now, some women love them and that’s fair.
2. Dark lip color emphasizes color or application mistakes. Color mistakes are very unforgiving. Application mistakes are worse, especially if you get some color on your teeth.
3. Dark lipstick makes small lips look smaller. It makes thicker lips too prominent.
Some women, when they get the color just right, can pull it off , if they have a very well-shaped mouth but the odds are against you.
4. You can’t just reapply it anywhere. Who has time to fuss with lip color that requires you to be in front of a mirror to apply? Are you really going to do this every hour? I do not want to be in front of a mirror more than once in a morning or afternoon.
5. If the lipliner matched the lipstick, you can see it for hours after the lipstick is gone and it looks clownish. There are ways around this, with colorless lipliner for instance. You could try The Body Shop’s Line Fixer. It works well.
6. It looks hard. It’s distracting. It’s hard to not notice it. It works in photographs of models who sat for 20 minutes to have it applied, because you’re supposed to notice it more in those pictures.
Now, pale lips, that’s better.
Easy to reapply. Looks classy. Works in the real world.
The color should not be so pale that it looks like you’re wearing concealer. That’s another look that only works in magazines.
What about bright but not dark? That’s a matter of personal preference if you are very good at finding colors that suit you. For most of us, these are impulse purchases that don’t get used very much because bright color has to be applied carefully, just as dark color does.
Comments
5 Responses to “DARK LIPSTICK DOESN’T WORK IN REAL LIFE”
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Hey guys, I am a fairly fair woman and I wear dark burgundy, plum lipstick. I also use a lip liner and the dark colors are the only thing that keeps me looking alive. I have a very old fashion face and these colors work well. However I cannot use vamp from chanel, too dark. I can apply lipstick without a mirror. If I go nude , slightly or medium, I look dead. End of story.
Really interesting comment, Lynn.
I’m trying to imagine your coloring. I think about “fairly fair” as Hilary Swank.
If you’re darker, like Catherine Zeta-Jones, then a “nude”, which usually is a fleshy pink-beige or peachy-brown, could easily look dead. Red or plum might well be her “nude” since those colors are natural to her complexion.
Goes to show that there are no blanket rules that apply to everyone. Each woman is unique and that’s a great thing. Thanks for pointing it out.
Hi, I have a light olive complexion, dark brown, black eyebrows, black eyelashes, and brown eyes. Personally I notice I look pale/washed out without dark lipstick or bronzer. It just really suits my coloring, and the lip shades I wear suit me in the day and night time. While all of your points are valid I think it strongly depends on the person in terms of what they look like and prefer. What might be a hassle someone might simply be a mere inconvenience for someone else or no problem at all. As a 20 year old woman darker shades of lipstick help “mature” my look, which is helpful in both my studies and professional career. As an after thought: pale lipstick can be pretty too! My best friend wears pale pink lipstick and looks amazing. She has white skin, blue eyes, and black hair and seriously works it. Also, here’s a picture of Keira Knightley at an event: http://photos.upi.com/topics-KEIRA-KNIGHTLEY/2f75cfcb5cdfe56ad89b8714552469a7/K_1.jpg — she looks BEAUTIFUL in pale lipstick!
Just my two cents!!!! Cheers!
Good points, Marion,
That article was written back before I became a color analyst, before I had worked out my perfect vocabulary in this regard. If I were to write this today, it would be called “Unnatural color doesn’t work IRL”. The dark elements in your coloring require a much darker lip to look natural than Reese Witherspoon does. I think that I was reacting to the fact that too many light women wear a dark lip, and in its severity, it looks again.
I think we have different taste about pale lips on dark women. On the reverse side, when Keira wears a pale, flesh-toned, nude lip, she looks utterly flat, like that photo where she appears to be wearing concealer. I don’t care for it and can’t see it on a 45 year old woman. I guess that my best generalization should be that lips that are about the same degree of intensity as the hair is most balanced looking. But note that none of this has to do with the skin color – meaning that Reese and Keira could well wear the same foundation, but it’s their undertone and the other elements of their coloring that are balanced and harmonized when choosing makeup.