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What's your success rate with new makeup colours?

Aziraphale

Veteran

I'm not talking face makeup or concealer, since those are supposed to be as invisible as possible. I mean things with actual colour. For me, this really means "new lip colours", since I don't experiment much with eye makeup -- I'm happy with black mascara and a bit of eyeliner only occasionally.

Anyway. My success rate is not great -- I'd say about 50%. When I get the urge for a new colour, or perhaps want to try a new product (such as Clinique's Chubby Sticks), I'll often buy two different shades. I invariably wear one all the time and never wear the other one. You'd think the solution would be to only buy one, but it doesn't work that way. Often the colour I thought I liked better turns out to be the one I don't wear. I seemed doomed to trial and error in the lipstick department.

How 'bout you? Are you good at this? Any tips? It's no good asking the gals at the makeup counter. They are always very sweet, and great with helping you get the right foundation, but I've bought more "wrong" lipsticks on their recommendation than I'd like to admit.

(Side note: quite like the Chubby Stick. The one I wear is a sort of raspberry purply red. It's fun and stays on for a remarkably long time).

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51 replies

Latest reply was from DonnaF

Suzanne (ambergreen)

Veteran

I'm betting it will be similar for others on this. The main issue with lip color is that they work best if they have a similar undertone to you, either warm or cool. So if someone doesn't know their undertone or it's almost either-or (like with me :P), picking lipsticks can be hit or miss.

Plus, though, when you're a warmer tone (I lean slightly to warm), it can be harder to get a hit since most lipsticks lean to blue. I got one the other day that looks like it's a deep rust color, but it has a definite blue undertone as seen when wiped off--and I hate it. However, the same day I got one I had been meaning to try (another shade of my fave color--orange) and I love it. So there ya go. 50%.

Aida

Veteran

Not great. I used to be, like, 1 in 4. Now that I've established several that work for me, I'm starting to get a better idea of which ones might work for me. But I'm still only up to around 1 in 3. I also tend to buy two (or three) shades in the hopes that one of the two works

EDIT: And have to agree with Ambergreen. Warm toned lipsticks seem to be really tough to find! My failure rate was even higher before I realized that I needed warmer tones.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Aida: I've found that warm-toned lipsticks have a tendency to look orange. It's not normally the look a woman is going for.

Ambergreen -- you're probably right about the warm-tone/cool-tone thing. I'm more or less neutral, or perhaps slightly warm. I've found that both warm and cool toned lipsticks work for me -- but not all of them! Surprisingly, a lot of purples work. I generally think of purple as on the cool end of the spectrum.

Aida

Veteran

Interestingly enough, I'm fairly neutral BUT for make-up warmer tones tend to look best because I skew just slightly warm. Except for reds. I seem to be able to wear any shade of red. I actually like orange lip colors, but again the warm ones (most of my lippies are some shade of orange, actually). The icy ones are a bit odd looking. My lip colors are on the orange to red to pink spectrum, but I did pick up a sheer plum last winter that I really liked. Which was a surprise because I'd never been able to wear a purple well before!

Sal

Veteran

I also struggle.....I end up sticking to very safe colours:

Black mascara
Dark grey eyeliner
Smokey eyeshadow
Rose/dull pink lips OR red lips

Last year I bought three new colours and only 1 worked. This year I have bought 1 and it works.

I find nudes very hard....I don't go for anything dark as it does me no favours. Reds and Pinks and brights are a lot easier.

So I am probably not that great at it! I think instore lighting is hard too.

Mia

Veteran

I have found a couple of websites where lipstick colours are suggested for various "colour seasons". I have been 2 for 2 with this approach. As a "clear winter" or true winter MAC Rebel is my latest fave. I never would have tried this colour on my own. I also love the name

Also, where I go for facials they sell a "no name" but high quality line of makeup and I can try before I buy. I still somehow make the odd blunder but cuts down the mistakes. Looking at home in natural light seems to be the trick.

sparlingo

(website)

It gets better as I pay attention to what has been working, but I'd say I've improved to a 40% success rate from a 20% - at least I'm working in the right direction ;). Anyway, you're not alone.

It's very easy for lip colours to make me look orangey or pinkey. Berry tones are my best bets, reds are harder but I'm figuring them out. Pinks and corals and other brights are very difficult for me.

I like to let the Sephora and MAC people try colours on me and recommend colours to me (I used to avoid salespeople like the plague). They generally have really good insight and love what they do.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Kiwigal -- I can't make nudes work either! They just make my lips blend in with my face. Maybe I've got the wrong shape lips for nude.

Aida -- oops. I didn't mean to insult your favourite lipstick colours! I'm sure whatever you wear looks good on you, because you seem to have an unerring eye for other matters of style. I guess what I'm saying is that it doesn't work for me -- if I try on a lipstick and it makes my lips look orange, I put it back in a hurry!

SandyG

Veteran

Half of the new works, but I've cut down on my magical thinking quite a bit since discovering this I love color but for me, it makes sense to put the most colorful ideas into accessories that are easier to wear and look good.

shedev

Veteran

I'm good with most cool shades in the mid to dark range, mauves, berries, plums, and deep reds.

Meow

Veteran

I struggle also! I came across a list of lipstick colors based on the seasonal color system. This was a revelation to me since I never thought to match makeup to my color swatches from my color analysis. I found a very helpful clerk at the MAC counter who thought this would be fun. She got out all the Mac lippies on my list and away we went trying them on. I must have tried on 15 lippies from the list- my lips were bright red at the end so kinda hard to tell what looked good! The SA put the lippies in order from light to dark (as if I was at a wine tasting - haha). I thought only 2 looked good - which I purchased. Most turned orange on me. Weird how makeup changes colors once it's on!

shiny

Veteran

I rarely use up a whole lipstick, before it goes bad (discolors), so I don't bank on using it up, and hence stick nearly exclusively to drugstore brands, with the occasional splurge that I later regret because it doesn't last any longer than the drugstore brands.

I find I am safest if I stick to anything that has the word "mauve" in it. That is a medium shade, not too dark or too light.

If I want to experiment beyond "drugstore mauve medium" then I do so with the idea that it's okay if the color doesn't work out -- i.e., minimum investment spent. Did I mention "drugstore" brands?

Finally, I have been able to extend life of my "mistakes" -- the shades way too light for me, or too orange but not too dark, by applying them first as a base, then applying the preferred shades on top. I frequently carry three different tubes in my bag, including two not-ideal shades, and I layer, layer, layer. Often the layered effect is better than one single tube color, but also I get satisfaction using up my hard earned money for not-quite shades.

bj1111

Veteran

i guess it depends on what you mean by success. if i don't like a color, i return it even if i have used it --at nordies or at cvs.

also, i am a brand buyer and i don't change up my make-up. i had my face done about 10 years ago at barneys leclerc counter. bought the pan solid to liquid pan foundation, a powder blush, face powder in several tones. i still use the powder blush and the face powder. i still use the same shade of lancome color fever lacquer that just got discontinued.

i had great luck at sephora playing with the cream blushes and lucked out with two shades of nars color sticks. also really good luck with cvs rimmel lippies. when i have trouble, it's not the color, it's the formulation especially for lip colors--too drying is my main complaint.

Suzanne (ambergreen)

Veteran

Haha, Aziraphale...I also love orange and definitely look for it. (But just because *I* like it doesn't mean others agree that it's a good look for me, LOL.)

@Aida, would love to compare lipstick notes this weekend. I am really a lipstick newbie...I might find out I really shouldn't be wearing it all, which is how it was most of my life.

Style Fan

Veteran

I use lipstick that is MLBB (My lips but better). I found out about this through a colour seasons group I belong to. I wear NARS Dolce Vita which is a Soft Autumn. I am not a Soft Autumn but I am very warm toned. If you like nude coloured lipstick try googling or search pininterst for MLBB. There are recommendations for the best ones. Some are warm (NARS Dolce Vita is warm) and I am sure some are cool toned ones.

I also go to MAC counters and have found the SA there extremely helpful.

Meow

Veteran

Forgot to mention - one of the two Mac lippies I ended up purchasing is my GO TO everyday lipstick. Viva Glam V. 2 days ago, it rolled under the front seat of my car (at least I think it's there) and for the life of me, I can't seem to fish it out!

Aida

Veteran

Hah no worries! I know a lot of people don't like those oranges but they really are best for me. One way that I can mitigate those mistakes though, since I purchase nearly all sheer lip colors if a color is a bit off I can pair it with another flattering shade to make it work (kind of like a primer, I guess). I've gotten "mistake" icy pinks and oranges to work quite well this way.

shiny

Veteran

Style Fran - never heard of MLBB - Love it!

I have heard that the best match can be found by matching the inside of your lower lip. Pull your lip down, match the inside. I have been known to do this in the drugstore, though it's not perfect because of florescent lighting.

That said since last Spring my go-to was a very bright Fuchsia. Not MLBB at all. I started thinking it was too much, until my hairdresser corrected me on that (she and I often talk about lipstick shades + hair color)... and said it was awesome and I should be using it all the time. But it's now Fall and I'm just not feeling it for Fall. I am feeling cranberry, which was my go-to in younger days (over a decade ago), I need a cranberry shade that works with my current age/skin tone/etc.

Von

Veteran

By success, do you mean didn't return a brand new color a day later at a different makeup counter? Then my success rate is close to maybe 10% for new lip colors! I have been shopping online at Bobbi Brown for the past 4 days, I have foundation in the cart, but need to get to a certain $$ before using a coupon. I want a red lipstick, because you know, it's on trend. I have added lipstick, googled for swatches, removed lipstick and added eyeshadow instead for DAYS! I just can't commit to the red, because I don't want the clown mouth if I pick the wrong shade! I have 'people are staring at my mouth' phobia. (No lie!).

rabbit

Veteran

I generally do the layering thing too, and use a purpley or a rusty lip pencil if the color needs to be a touch warmer or cooler, I add a little and blend it in. I also use a clear balm over it because I'm usually just going for a tinted look. I think Rite Aid too like CVS ? takes back any makeup that doesn't work for you even when opened and tried on.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Lately, I'm doing pretty well with new colors, probably because I'm trying them on first before purchasing! Eye colors are easy -- I stick with my usual cool muted shades. But lip colors are tricky, and the last two new ones I've tried have been successful.

Isabel

Veteran

Like you, my the color I wear limited to my lips but I also use blush. I generally did not do well. But 2 years ago I met a wonderful young man at a JC Penney Sephora outpost and he taught me about color. The blush he recommended has just been wonderful. Then he recommended a lipstick. Then a second one. I love everything that he has recommended. But mostly, he gave me some idea of what to look for. And I am learning more about color. I used to think that red was red....but nothing is as simple as it seems. : )

thimblelina

(website)

Veteran

The way I hedge this is I only buy one line of lip color: Nars. And within their line only sheers and glosses. I have four sheers and 8 or 9 glosses and can make lots of very subtly different mixes with these. I simply can't stand it when lip products smell/taste/feel different than I am expecting, so I play it safe!

catgirl

Veteran

I only wear a few shades of lip color, all in the browns and purples. Surprisingly, I've found a great new shade of ultraviolet that I love - it's a MAC color. I have tried so many lipstick shades over the years that I can spot what will and won't work on me instantly. There is a new Rihanna MAC shade I just got that is a cool silver-brown that's perfect.

Kristin L

Veteran

Thanks for the recommendation on the chubby stick!

For lip colors, I'm about 1 in 3. Some of the pinky browns work for me as well as berry shades. I wish I could find a red, but every one that I've tried looks awful.

I haven't tried it yet, but I heard that if your trying to find one that works, put a dab on the underside of your pinkie finger and see how it looks. Or, just hold your pinkie up to your mouth. I'm not sure about drug stores, but I think you can return tried products that don't work to stores like Sephora.

Gigi

Veteran

Don't even get me started on lip colors. I can't seem to find anything that is exactly the right shade—it's either too cool or too warm. Like you, AZ, I am neutral with perhaps a bit of a tilt toward warm.

I have two lip colors, one that leans warm and one that leans cool, as well as two lip pencils, again one warmer and one cooler. None of these is perfect. I was playing around with them last night in the mirror, and what seemed to work the best was using the warm lip pencil with the cool lipstick and vice versa, which I had never done before. I also experimented with mixing in just a touch of yellow powder (from a quad compact) with the cooler shade, and that seemed to help. Maybe we have to mix our own? I should have tried mixing the two lipsticks together.

Lipstick is the bane of my makeup existence.

rabbit

Veteran

Yeah, that's what I do Gigi, use the opposing pencil to alter the lip color. I almost always mix my own on my mouth using various lipsticks and occasionally eye pencils and little artist paint brushes. I really like lips that work with, but aren't 'matchy' with rest of my outfit (in darkness, brightness, etc.), so doing a custom blend each time works.

That said, it's hard to touch up the exact shade out and about.

ETA: heh, thinking about it further, I actually sometimes use a traditional oil painting technique I learned. I use a base muted tone to build up the level of deepness/darkness (grayscale in painting) I want, and then use glosses of color over it to tint it.

Gigi

Veteran

Rabbit, I'm glad to know that you do this too! I didn't know whether it was a strange technique, since I'd never heard of it before.

Your oil painting technique idea is interesting. When you say "muted tone," do you mean a lip color that matches your own natural lip color, and then you just apply it as heavy or as light as you want the overall look to be? Then you cover with more heavily pigmented lipstick? (Sorry, I don't have much training in color terminology.)

DonnaF

Veteran

My lipstick success rate is even worse than my clothing online orders, especially in brands I can only buy online! Part of the problem is that a lot of lipstick turns a ghastly orange on my lips. That didn't happen to me when I was younger; maybe it has something to do with my loss of lip pigment? In addition to the cool/warm thing, I want my lipstick to be dark rather than bright, and that seems to be a hard thing to come by for some odd reason.

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