I'm on the Red Apple Liptstick company's mailing list. I usually don't even read them, but I thought this might be worth sharing. It's from the owner of the company: Unfortunately, I was not able to include his three pics as examples. If I figure it out, I will add them. Two were of actresses on Law & Order, and one was from the makeup artist for Downton Abbey. All three are subtle and sophisticated looking.
As a guy who spends his days creating new lipstick colors, I spend a lot of time watching and learning as everyday women use my products.
I also spend a lot of time watching seasoned professionals use lipstick too, and I clearly understand the difference between them.
I witness these two common mistakes the most. Do you do either of these?
1) She puts on lipstick in a rushed hurry, trying to get every bit of it in place in 8 seconds or less.
This isn't a rodeo bull ride. Seriously, slow down. A few negative things happen when you rush lipstick.
Negative Side Effect Of Rushing Lipstick - When you rush, you use too much pressure. Too much pressure forces the skin to indent. The indented skin caves all of the natural creases and folds onto themselves, which reduces the surface area the lipstick makes contact with.
It ends up that lipstick is just piled on top of lipstick, and never thoroughly worked into the skin.
This leads to the Scooby Doo Episode of "The Mystery of The Disappearing Lipstick" with the ring around the mouth.
2) She Uses Too Much Intensity - The tendency to not pay attention to the intensity level occurs in a rushed application, or just simply by novice application.
I want to be SUPER CLEAR about this. Almost never, ever, should a lipstick be worn at full intensity. There are occasions for it yes, such as a super red lip at a black dress event (which will most certainly require upkeep throughout the night).
But in day to day wearing of lipstick, the higher the intensity, the more maintenance required and the greater chance of uneven wear off.
Color balance is lost, evenness is lost, definition is lost, wear-ability is lost. You also stand the chance to look silly with an overly glossy piled up mess of a look that wears terribly uneven.
And the same goes for gloss.
I'm going to show you some photos of professional lipstick applications to help get this point across.
The key makeup artist for Law and Order is brilliant. Rebecca Perkins has kept up the art direction set by previous key makeup artists, and she also, is a master at the understated lipstick.
There is a real reason why these ladies always look so well put together. It's because they are wearing lipstick at 1/4 to 1/2 intensity, and the lipstick has been worked into the lip.
Here's another
Same show, Law and Order
Ok one more, and also from an artist who I think is brilliant, Elaine Browne - Key makeup artist for the series Downton Abbey. Truly impressive how she uses lipstick that almost never stands out in your face, but completely complements the actress and the dress.
Elaine used a light pink lipstick, that sometimes sends women screaming for the hills when they see it in the tube
Anyway, light pink (think pinky promise, petal pusher - two of my own colors), light application, worked into the lip, and blended to match the blouse almost to a T.
There is an art to makeup that doesn't LOOK like you are "wearing" makeup. And one of your biggest clues is to go easy on the intensity of the lipstick.
When you look at a "lipstick bullet," you are looking at its most dark, compact version.
So I encourage you to look at the possibilities, slow down in application, and easy on the intensity. I think you will be amazed at the results.
~Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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