In my book, color never goes out of style. So when lines like Fenty Beauty wildly expanded the popular lipstick color palette this year to include shades like wild lilac and periwinkle blue, the last thing I felt was scared and intimidated. And that’s the last thing you should feel too.
Getting a little wacky with lipstick is wonderfully fun. It does, however, help to have a little pro advice that can turn a little experimentation into a look you’ll want to wear again and again. Kathryn Murray Dickinson, owner of clean beauty boutique Aillea, shares her tips on how to rock an unexpected lip color—and love the way you look doing it. “At the end of the day, it’s lipstick,” she says. “It’s fun and not permanent. You’ve got nothing to lose.” Makeup routine, you just got a lot more exciting.
PICK A HUE: To start, think of lipsticks like hair colors. “Hold the stick next to your face and think, if I died my hair this color what would it do to my skin tone? See what undertones the color draws out. If I had a more sallow complexion, I would go for something more vibrant rather than a yellow. A blue or green would match well with a pink or red complexion.”
AND IF YOU DO CHANGE YOUR HAIR COLOR, head back to the store to pick hues again. “There’s been a big movement lately, especially in the natural beauty world, of women embracing gray hair at early ages. This Organic Girl is a blogger that used to have dark hair and would hardly wear bright lipsticks. Now that she’s gone gray, she wears vibrant pink lipsticks all the time. I’ve noticed other women who have gone gray wearing more lip colors too.”
WANT TO SLOWLY DIVE IN? START WITH ORANGE: “It’s the gateway color into funky hues. It’s a step into crazy colors without being too unexpected.”
BE WARY OF BLACK: Unless you like lots of contrast. “These days anything can work, but black can get harsh and feel heavy.”
THINK LIKE A FRENCH WOMAN FOR THE REST OF YOUR LOOK: “Focus on your skin. A glowy, dewy complexion with minimal blush and eye makeup, like French women do when they do a bright red lip, will make the color pop. If you’re going to go bold, you want people to notice the lipstick and not something else.”
PREP YOUR LIPS: “When your prepping your skin to make it glowy and dewy, do the same to your lips.”
MAKE IT LAST: “If these colors start to fade unevenly, it will be noticeable. Be sure to keep the tube with you and plan to re-apply often. It’s like nail polish. Nobody notices when pink nail polish chips, but chips are really evident with a bright color. It’s the same with the wear of a colored lipstick. The first time you put it on it, blot the color into your lips, re-apply and blot and re-apply again to really get the color in there and hopefully prevent uneven wear.”
PLAY YEARROUND: “Trying fun colors is seasonless. It’s really about how you style the whole look. You can pull off a bold hue with cozy whites in the winter just as much as you can with lighter pieces in the summer.”
MURRAY DICKINSON’S FAV COMPANIES: Axiology and Clove + Hollow
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