Lip Service - THE STYLISH VOYAGER

Wondering on the streets of London, I have noticed how many London girls wear bright lipstick, usually different shades of red. It seems a quintessential English girl has a fair skin, wears simple make-up and red lipstick. To go with this classy look, she is dressed in 1940-50s inspired clothes, matching vintage and modern pieces.

So what is it about red lips that have made them appear in all major shows and ad campaigns, ranging from D&G, Armani, Dior to Gucci?

My own experience with red lips began recently. I have previously wore red lipstick only during photo shoots and thought it looked a bit too vulgar on my big full lips. However, a recent break up led me to the counters of the beauty shop where I looked for something that would make me stand out in the crowd. And I found it – red lipstick! The amazing transformation began as it gave me the so needed confidence and empowered me in a way I haven’t felt before. The trick is to do it carefully and not overdo, lessen other parts of make-up and experiment with different shades of red lip liner (topped with a bit of sheer gloss) or a simple lipstick.

If you are new to red lipstick and not sure if it will suit you, here is what Elle Canada advises:

I’ve never worn red lipstick. How can I ease myself into the look?

“Wearing red lipstick is all about confidence. Red lips have a reputation for being too ‘done’ and theatrical, but if you get the right shade it’s an elegant statement. Experiment to find what depth of pigment is right for you: it could be a dense, matte, true red or a much sheerer wash of pink-based red.”

What’s the on-trend way to wear red lipstick?

“To keep red modern, make the rest of your face minimal. Wear as little eye makeup as you feel comfortable with; mascara is fine, but eyeshadow should be neutral or done away with altogether. I love blush, but apply it to the apples of your cheeks, not the cheekbones — you want to look healthy and youthful, not overly made up. Apply lipstick straight from the tube and skip the liner — it’s easy to get it wrong.”

Here is Lisa Eldridge’s tutorial on creating perfect red lips:

And at the end, a great article on red lips by Lisa Moore.

A dark red pout has a statement to make: I’m important, sexy and classic.

I love the names: Sumptuous Scarlet, Ruby Slippers and Wet Wet Red. I’m at the cosmetics counter in a drugstore and I have a row of red marks on the side of my hand like a cat’s scratch: British Red, Pomegranate, Berry Burst and Raspberry Bite. I am going for the reddest. The darkest red there is.

Red lipstick says: this mouth will do you in. Whatever you do, don’t make me pout. If I’m dark and wet and pouted up, you’re done for.

There’s a mirror on the drugstore counter, a white disc of fluorescent light that I tilt, and there’s my mouth, ultra-glossy and covered in Liquid Garnet. It socks me back to my early 20s. I remember living in residence, tearing an envelope with such haste that rose petals flew out all over the elevator, swirling in the updraft — a valentine.

That night I made out with another boy entirely, my back against the red brick wall of the dormitory, a snowstorm devouring the town. It was almost silent in the storm, just my blood pumping in my temples and the snow hissing against the hood of my nylon jacket. My lipstick smeared on his full mouth, a faint red ghost of transference. I had transferred, in that kiss, every drop of love I had in me.

The girl at the cosmetics counter tells me that red is the only lipstick that bleeds.

You’ll need a lipliner, she says. My Liquid Garnet has already smeared a little and gives me the look of a child playing with her mother’s cosmetics. There is an old woman at the counter beside me. She has on a plastic rain bonnet and she’s walking with a cane, and it’s taking her quivering, pale hand a long time to pluck the right change from her coin purse, but when she turns to smile apologetically at me, I see she’s wearing a lipstick more fiercely red than the one I’ve chosen.

There is something so blatantly sexual about red lipstick. That’s why it’s shocking on the mouth of an older woman; it has a wrecked grandeur that I admire. I remember parties my mother had, how sophisticated I thought the cigarette butts with the ring of red lipstick looked in the ashtrays. I could put together the whole woman the smoker must have been from just this one clue. Cleavage and perfume, spiked heels, rhinestones, eyes sooty with mascara, narrowed knowingly behind a veil of smoke.

There’s also nostalgia in red lipstick. Wearing it invokes the spirit of Marilyn Monroe, of all women who were brave enough to be vulnerable and bold at the same time, mysterious and coquettish, willing to announce their desire in a blazing, wet spill of crimson red.