Love your lips

In the October issue, Get it’s award winning make-up artist Amanda Ramsay answers your questions on longer lasting lipstick…

💄 The good news.

Lipstick is a quick solution to lifting your mood and looking like you’ve got your act together. A simple pick-me-up for the time-poor.

The bad news.

Your lips are shrinking with age. Lips begin to thin for the same reason your skin sags: a natural decline in collagen. Hence the mad dash for injectables and fillers.

We can’t all have Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s full lips. The simple non-invasive answer is genuinely hydrating lipsticks and lip balms that treat and inject moisture into your lips. Given the average woman eats half a kilo of lipstick a year, a 100% natural formula packed with hydrating plant ingredients is the way to go.

But I know, you want your lipstick to stay all day and you’re questioning whether natural formulas can deliver, right? They absolutely can. It’s all about layering and finding a pigment-rich lipstick. 

How to achieve the look:

1. Start with a stain all over your lips.
2. Line your lips – and colour them in – with liner.
3. Slick on a lipstick with colour that packs a punch.
4. Line the outside border of your lips again.

Is red for me?

Yes, there really is a red lipstick for everyone – it’s just a matter of trying a bunch on. Generally, cool skin undertone suits bluer pinkish raspberry, wine and vampy reds and warm skin undertone suits orangey or brick reds.

Colours that have the same undertone as your skin will always make you look a bit more radiant.

Two quick ways to determine what your skin undertone is:

Test 1

Stand in natural light (not direct sunlight or artificial light).

Take a look at the veins on your wrist. What colour are they? More blue or green?

Blue-ish veins indicate a cool (or pink) undertone. If you burn easily in the sun this is another sign that you likely have cool-toned skin.

Green-ish veins indicate a warm (or yellow) undertone. If you tan easily, this is another sign that you likely have warm-toned skin.

If your veins appear to be a mix of blue and green, consider yourself one of the lucky few who has a neutral undertone. You can pretty much wear any shade you want.

Test 2

Grab a blank piece of white paper.

Hold it next to your neck/chest.

Compared with the white paper, does your skin look pinker or more yellow?

For best result, wear something white and tie your hair back.

If it looks more pink/red, you have a lot of blue in your skin and you’re a cool undertone.

If you’re skin looks more yellow-ish, you’re a warm undertone.

And if you can’t really tell, then you’re probably a neutral undertone.

View our product suggestions in the October issue of Get it, read it online here