STYLE BY MELI

Although I’m noticing a lot of bright colors for the lips trending right now, I find that the whole nude lip trend will always be a desirable look that many people like to achieve, especially when paired with a smokey eye.

I think Jennifer Lopez can really pull off a nude lip because of her golden complexion and she always coordinates it with a sultry, smokey eye.

I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of the nude lip look, mainly because people NEVER get it right! It’s a huge makeup pet peeve of mine when I meet a client that tells me she wants a nude lip and is automatically drawn to the lightest color lipstick (often a color comparable to a concealer).  Especially when a person has fair skin, it could really look deadly! I will never understand how someone could want their lips so nude as to blend with their complexion and look almost invisible on the face!

I see it happen all the time, a person wants a nude lip, tries on a lip color that is as light as paper (bear with my over-exaggeration here) and then goes on to say, “Oh wow, this looks bad on me, what was I thinking?”  This is because it’s really not that flattering to go that pale on the lips!  The only way a super nude lip could look that effortlessly good is if the person naturally has a more tan, olive, or darker complexion because the nude lip will CONTRAST nicely against the skin, rather than BLEND with a fair person’s skin tone.

What is the secret to perfecting a nude lip?  I believe it’s a 3 step process:

1-  First, a good lip liner is a MUST when going for a nude lip. I’ll be honest, I don’t always think a lip liner is an absolute necessity and could often times be skipped in a person’s makeup routine.  (Unless a person is specifically looking for definition and altering the shape of their natural lips).

However, a nude lip look REQUIRES a lip liner, or otherwise, it can start to blend with the skin color rather quickly! By outlining the lips with a good liner, this prevents the lip color from blending in too much with one’s complexion.

My recommendation for lip liners is to go for something in a light beige color, such as MAC’s “Stripdown” or “Oak.”  Each provide a little color, without being too dark either (sorry, the 90′s are over my friends…the days of wearing an overly dark liner and light lipstick are long gone!  We definitely don’t want to go there!).

2- A lipstick is always a KEY ELEMENT for the nude lip look and CANNOT be skipped.  Some people think they can just wear a nude gloss, and I can tell you that MOST of the time, this will NEVER work!  Let me tell you why…

Reason being, most people have a little color to their lips naturally.  Meaning, putting a nude lipgloss over a bare lip will NOT achieve a nude lip because the person’s natural lip color will always show through. If a person has naturally a reddish tone in their lips, a lip gloss consistency is typically TOO SHEER, meaning the reddish of the lip is going to shine through.

What’s most tricky is choosing the RIGHT nude lipstick shade.  I always tell people NOT to go too nude on this choice (the shade should be a couple shades darker than the skin, which is OKAY because the lipgloss can always dilute the color later).

My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE NUDE LIPSTICK is MAC’s “Blankety.” People that follow my blog have definitely heard me reference this lipstick on multiple occasions and I rave about it because it’s perfect in every way:  the actual consistency is creamy and provides a smooth finish (not too sheer), the color is a nude beige with a slight pale pink undertone, AND it’s nude, but NOT too nude.  THIS IS WHAT WE ARE GOING FOR HERE!  Nude enough to be classified as nude, but not deathly looking white nude.  (This is never attractive in my opinion).

Keep in mind that the color needs to have a little bit of color so it does something for the face.  That’s why this lipstick shade is a really good choice!

3-  The last step is choosing the right lipgloss.  With looking at lipglosses, I actually say, go as light as you want!  It’s OKAY to go really nude with the gloss because it’s serving as a top coat to the lipstick and can be used to slightly lighten the lipstick.

My recommendation for this is MAC’s “Wildly Lush.”  It’s very nude and this also is a lip-plumping gloss, which is serves as an added bonus because the plumping effect will make the lips appear fuller and give DIMENSION.  Many times a nude lip can look flat, so a plumper will give the look a boost!

[What are your favorite products for achieving a nude lip?  Do you have tips for this look?]

This entry was posted on February 27, 2011 at 11:55 PM and is filed under CELEBRITY MAKEUP, LIPGLOSSES, LIPS, LIPS - LIPSTICKS, MAC MAKE-UP, MAKE-UP, PRODUCTS I LOVE with tags Jennifer Lopez, nude lip. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.