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Team visible or invisible lipstick?

Aziraphale

Veteran

I jokingly welcomed Angie to "team lipstick" yesterday on her blog post showcasing her fantabulous riding jacket and new watermelon lipstick. I was surprised to learn that Angie wears lipstick every day. It occurs to me that there are two kinds of lipstick: that which can be mistaken for your natural lip colour (even if it isn't) and that which patently is not. Nude or not-nude, I guess.

Although I wear several different shades of lipstick depending on my outfit, my lips are always an unnatural colour. How about you? If you're a lipstick wearer, do you want it to look like you're not wearing any, or do you want it to be highly visible?

General

58 replies

Latest reply was from

Thistle

Veteran

Neither. I wear chap stick

MRL

Veteran

I usually wear a very natural shade but sometimes like to wear pink, which is flattering to me.

doubleh

Veteran

I like to go nude during the day and bold at night...um, did that come across wrong?

E

Veteran

Mine are in the natural realm: 2 muted medium pinks that very close to my natural colour. I recently added a darker one though, heading towards burgundy, that is definitely more visible. I think it's just light enough to possibly look natural, at first glance at least, rather than the more goth/vampires burgundies. I love the 'unnatural' colours on other women, but when I try them on me they just take over and upstage the rest of me.

carter

Veteran

Both. Color when I'm feeling it, a more subdued shade when the outfit or smoky eyes call for downplaying the lips. I bought 5 new red and pink shades on Friday to counteract the weather. I wore hot pink today. I do wear lipstick everyday, or I feel unfinished.

Anonymous

I just don't want people to see my lip color over everything else.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

Totally Team Visible!

Echo

Veteran

I tend to have coloured lips naturally, and most "mauve" shades look natural on me. I generally stick around those slightly-boosted-natural shades during the day (I usually use a lip stain for long wear and then use something sheer like Baby Lips over the top). I rarely go with anything unnatural, though, so the current orange lipstick trend is one I will skip. I sometimes go redder at night, but I like to play up eyes more than lips.

Parsley

Veteran

Visible for me!
I don't usually go super intense, but it's always visible. I feel like I need it with my high-contrast coloring: very pale skin with dark hair.

krishnidoux

Veteran

Certainly natural! Usually gloss, if anything. I like to put Blistex on my lips then brush them gently with my toothbrush.

Missey

Veteran

I'm with Carter, typically I sport a more neutral or gloss type lip, but I LOVE a pillar box red lipstick with only a bit of natural face powder and mascara.

Greyscale

Veteran

Usually natural. I have one bold coral lipstick for going out, but usually I wear nothing or the Clinique "chubby stick" that's sort of between a gloss and a lipstick.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Thistle and krishnidoux, you're both benched. Chapstick and lip gloss don't count as lipstick!

Echo -- there's currently a trend for orange lipstick? Good grief. That's not going to work for me. It's true that playing up eyes generally means going more subdued with the lips. I would play up eyes if I could, but it just doesn't work for me sadly. If I did, I would probably do a more subdued lip colour with it.

Parsley -- I hear what you're saying. I've got pale skin and medium brown hair, so fairly high contrast, and I feel washed out without visible lip colour.

Carter -- hot pink for me today too!

Anna -- of course you're a visible lip girl. I should have known. I don't have a style twin on this forum, exactly, but your style choices are among those that resonate with me the most.

gryffin

Veteran

Aziraphale - I like a quiet lip because I prefer to emphasize my eyes. I only do the MLBB look but I achieve it in several different ways. Either one of the Fresh sugar lip treaments for moisture, the brown sugar lip scrub is awesome at this time of year. I do like the Fresh Sugar in Rose. Like Greyscale I do like the clinique chubby stick in strawberry with a hint of raspberry gloss over it. If I do lipstick it's as close to my lip color as possible Chanel rouge allure la caline with chanel glossimar glaze on top for a dressier longer lasting evening lip. Those are my current favorites!

carambola

Veteran

I usually go just a hair darker than my natural lip color, so I guess that puts me on Team Natural. I do think it's visible though, because I look/feel washed out without it.

Anonymous

Visible but not too out there. I put on a bold lipstick, eat breaky, then go over the faded colour with a gloss.

I think glosses are more youthful on me but I can't identify why, lip shape or fading lips?? I probably have 25+ sticks/glosses in an attempt to find something I love. The nude lip trend does nothing for me

Helena

Veteran

I LOVE a bold lip and always wore a sort of reddy-wine-colored lip in days gone by, but alas I find a bold lip doesn't love me back anymore!! So I stick with naturals these days.

cinnamon fern

Veteran

Definitely visible. I have never mastered eye makeup so if anything's going to be visible it's the lips.

Peri

Veteran

Visible! Same as Parsley...super pale, dark hair, we can't wear nude and still look alive.

shiny

Veteran

I'm in the can't-leave-home-without-lip-color camp. I don't wear eye makeup except for a single coat of brown mascara on my small thin lashes. My eyes recede into nothingness. So I play up my lips instead.

"Natural" I am told is matching the inside of your lower lip. When I was younger (actually not that long ago, 5 years ago), nude or pink or other light shades would not work at all because my natural color was too dark and would show through. As I get older that is less and less a case so I have been able more and more to wear such lighter shades, and get away with just a tinted gloss in the summer. Still, my "natural"/nude lipstick color -- the one I just had MAC help me pick out for office day wear -- is probably darker than most would wear.

At night when I go out I totally amp it up for lower lighting. But I've had to gradually reduce the intensity of the amp over the years.

I always have about 4 or 5 different shades of varying intensity in my handbag at any given moment.

Echo

Veteran

Well, magazines like Glamour were talking about the orange lipstick trend in fall 2013, and Allure and Bazaar are still talking it up for spring. They say it works for everyone, and personally I am just not seeing that. I think it looks clownish in a lot of the pictures. But regardless, trend or not, I won't be going there!

http://www.allure.com/makeup-l.....s-for-2014

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/b.....ds#slide-1

http://styleblazer.com/212960/.....-lipstick/

MuseumGal

Veteran

I wear lipstick every day, and I wear both invisible and visible, but prefer something in the middle for most days - given that I have brown hair, brown eyes, brown glasses, and brown skin, my face can just sort of disappear without a little lipstick.

Ariadne

Veteran

I go back and forth.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I am not quite invisible but I definitely prefer lip colors that are close to my natural color. I look awful in bold colored lips -- I think it's just too much going on on my face, maybe because I have largish features on a small face. My eyes are my much better feature and I would rather emphasize them.

rae

(website)

Veteran

Team invisible. I feel much the same as Janet. Even if I'm not playing up my eyes, I feel so uncomfortable in a bright lip. Maybe because I have fairly full lips and thick eyebrows?

deb

Veteran

Invisible for me.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Museumgal -- I dig your avatar.

A -- I do that too! Not as intentionally, but I do swipe gloss (read: Vaseline) over my lipsticked lips after a few hours. I put the lipstick on full strength in the morning, then vaseline them without looking by about 10 or 11. You can't lipstick without looking. Also I find it keeps them from drying out.

Torontogirl -- that's funny, I swear I look better with dark/bright lipstick now than I did 20 years ago. I'm 41 now. I have heard that at some point, bold lips no longer work...we'll see how it goes.

Shiny -- that's interesting. The inside of my lower lip is WAY DARKER than my outer lips. Maybe that's why I like fairly dark colours. My lips are nearly the same colour as the rest of my pale skin! Huh. You learn something every day.

Janet -- I think we've had this conversation before. You have to-die-for eyes, so eye makeup absolutely works for you. I've got the opposite -- reasonably full lips, and small narrow eyes that become little happy crescents when I smile. I guess we work with what we've got!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Team Barely Visible? Does that count?

I have a bunch of different ones, all of which are pretty close to my natural inner lip colour. A really bright lip tends to overpower me, although I will wear a slightly darker or more intense one sometimes at night.

SarahTheWhite

Veteran

Rae, just before I was going to answer, I read your comment and it is so interesting because I was going to say the same thing about being uncomfortable in bright lip colors but because my lips are super thin. I never thought about it going both ways! I do love natural color and/or gloss, but I have the worst time remembering to keep reapplying throughout the day. I also tend to wear darker eye makeup and don't like to feel heavily made up overall...

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