How To Get The Perfect Red Lip
Red lipstick is striking. It is a classic look that all Hollywood celebrities must master. Marilyn Monroe rocked a red lip, along with Betty Boop. Gwen Stephani has mastered the red lip, and you might have noticed Taylor Swift at a Kansas City ballgame with her bright red lips. So, today, I’m going to show you how to get the perfect red lip because it is not just for celebrities.
The Steps To Getting The Perfect Red Lip
It might take a while to find the perfect color of red to match your skin tone. I love a blue/red, a Christmas red, and a pink/red. But I don’t think that orange/red looks good on me. You might be just the opposite, so experiment, experiment, experiment.
When putting on my makeup, I cover my lips with my foundation. This neutralizes the mauve color of my lips and helps the true color of the lipstick to show better.
Red isn’t a forgiving color, and every little mistake shows. I find it easier to use a lip liner to start with since it is easier to erase a tiny mistake versus an entire lip of color.
The first thing I do is find and outline my Cupid’s Bow. Some people like to make their lips larger than they are, so they go above their natural lips. I stick to my lip line, but I will adjust it to make them look symmetrical. We all have one side that will be longer or higher than the other.
Once I have my Cupid’s Bow in place, I continue to outline the entire lip.
Then, I color my lips with the liner. You don’t have to do this step, but I find that my lipstick seems to stay on longer when I use the lip liner to color the entire lips first.
The lip liner and lipstick are a perfect match, but you can see the color is deeper and richer looking once I add the lipstick.
I hate getting lipstick on straws, drinking glasses, or my hubby’s cheek, so I “set” the color with setting powder.
I usually use a brush and cover my lips a couple of times with the powder. It gives a nice matte finish, and the color doesn’t bleed onto things nearly as easily.
To get a crisp lip line, I use a white, ivory, or cream eyeliner to outline sections of my lips.
I line the Cupid’s Bow and the sides of my lower lips.
Then, I take a small, thin makeup brush to carefully blend in the whitish line. You’ll see it for a while since you know it is there, but no one else will know once it is blended in. I only use this brush for this job, and I clean it often to ensure it doesn’t get red on it and smear the white liner.
The products I used for this perfect red lip are:
- Thrive Maurjon Lip Filler Long-Wearing + Plumping Lip Liner™
- Thrive Maya Impact-FULL™ Smoothing Lipstick
- The Super Nudes Duo Liner is my favorite.
I followed the same steps as above but used Pat McGrath Labs LiquiLUST™: Legendary Wear Lipstick in the color Elson 4. Unfortunately, this lipstick is tough to find in stock. This is supposedly one of the lipsticks that Taylor Swift wears, so it is out of stock everywhere.
How To Get The Perfect Red Lip With A Lip Crayon
I’m using the NARS Powermatte High Intensity Lip Pencil in Dragon Girl for this look. It is a cross between a lip liner and a lipstick. I didn’t outline or color my lips with a lip liner; I just used the NARS lip pencil as an all-in-one.
I love this color, but it is more of a pink/red than a red/red. This is a color I’ll wear in spring and summer more than in fall and winter.
However, the Cruella 185 shade in the same lip pencil is one of my favorites. I like the deeper color, and I think this one is perfect for fall and winter.
The website called this a tan rose, so maybe it has a hint of brown to tone it down.
How To Get The Perfect Red Lip With A Lip Stain
If you’ve read my blog before, you might have read about my love for Chanel’s LE ROUGE DUO ULTRA TENUE Ultra Wear Lip Colour. I’ve worn Chanel’s lip stains for years, and I love the duo stick with the color on one end and a gloss on the other. These stains last all day long and aren’t as drying as most lip stains. This color is Daring Red, and I think it is the perfect Christmas red!
I hope this post was helpful. Be sure to let me know which is your favorite and if you wear red lipstick.
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Verse Of The Day
Romans 10:10
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I agree with the other posts….looks gorgeous on You! Not so much on me. I could go for the pink/red but can’t bring myself to wear red.
I love this post! It reminded me of my granddaughter getting into my EL red lipstick last week with her cheer uniform on. She’s 5! 😮 I’ve never tried a setting powder. Great to know. I’ll have to get this! I like the way you do your eye makeup too. 😀
Landy, those granddaughters have a way to getting into all of our goodies. Lol!
Loved your lipstick routine. I find that in my CATHOLIC church with singing all the hymns and helping to serve communion with with 3 words to many parishioners, I find that the lipstick fades but not the lip liner. Your tip on filling in the lip is helpful. Do you use the same brush each time to set the powder?
How do you manage using the stain lipstick? Do you touch up the inner lips with the gloss or use the stain throughout the day/night? I was hoping you would show more on that application. Thank you always for a nice presentation. (Judy)
I usually use the same brush, or I just use my fingers which is easier. The stains last longer than anything else, and if I need a tiny touchup, it doesn’t take long.
Great tutorial and you look great with red lips! I’m more of a peachy girl but may have to try a bright red!
One of my favorite accessories is a lip color! NARS American Woman has been my favorite go to lately. I don’t apply a full lip coverage. I touch the fullest part of my lips and pat the color on with my finger. It leaves a hint of color without overwhelming my other makeup.
I will need to check out the NARS lip pencil. The Dragon Girl shade looks amazing on you!
I have always struggled to put on red lipstick because I usually end up looking like clown! Thanks for showing how to apply it the right way.
Great lipsticks tutorial!
I love wearing red!! It’s the best. I actually wear MAC’s – Ruby Woo! ( it’s the same color that Taylor Swift wears)
Great post! I never wear red lipstick & these tips just might me give it a try! Thank you!
Yes, I love NARS Dragon Girl is my favorite RED!!