Pulling off Red Lipstick

          Red lipstick has always been a popular makeup trend amongst desi women, despite the trouble of being able to pull it off. Here are some tips to pull off the perfect red lips.

Shade

[ Mischa Barton   |   Anne Hathaway ]

For fair skin tones, go with a bright, strong red with blue undertones. A shade that is too dark will draw far more attention to your lips than you want, and will make your skin look too pale in comparison to the lip color. Examples: MACs "Ruby Woo", MAC's "Russian Red", NARS' "Jungle Red", Revlon's "Really Red"

[ Sonam Kapoor   |   Jessica Alba ]

Most South Asians fall in the category of medium skin tones, or more specifically, olive-toned skin. The best shade of red lipstick for this skin tone should be one with a neutral to warm undertone. Examples: Illamasqua's "Maneater", Revlon's "In the Red", MAC's "Dare You", Bobbi Brown's "Hollywood Red"

[ Rihanna   |   Priyanka Chopra ]

Women with darker skin tones should stay away from shades with an orange/coral, or blue undertone. If you have a dark complexion you should go for a brick red, avoiding shades that are too dark and may give a hint of maroon/purple. Examples: NARS' "Shanghai Express", Dior's "Red Icon", Yves Saint Laurent's "Le Rouge", NYX's "Snow White", MAC's "Viva Glam I"

Shape 
          Applying lip liner defines the shape of your lips and keeps your lipstick from bleeding. Some professional makeup artists also apply and blend a concealer that matches the skin around the lips to make the shape stand out more. The lip liner you use should be the same red color as your lipstick. If you don't have the same exact color, you can use a red lip liner of a slightly darker shade - just be sure to blend the lipstick into it well enough. Some of the worst mistakes made with lip liner is over-drawing the lips beyond the natural lip line, and not blending a liner that is darker than the lip color. Let's leave those trends where they belong - the 80s.

The Overall Look

           A big part of pulling off red lipstick is coordinating the rest of your look. Eye makeup should be simple and neutral. Try using shades of brown to contour your eyes and make them seem rounder, and put a frosty nude over the lid. Or, you can skip the eyeshadow and go straight to the eyeliner. Winged eyeliner goes great with red lipstick. Line your waterline but don't smudge eyeliner on the lower lash - doing so will draw too much attention to the dark, outlined eyes. With red lips, you want to keep the rest of your makeup very simple. This also goes for blush, which should be applied lightly to the apples of your cheeks.

Meesha Shafi is seen wearing a warm-toned red lipstick to compliment her trendy outfit on set of Coke Studio. 

          Red lips are commonly seen paired with plain outfits that are primarily a neutral solid color like black, white, brown, navy blue, or red. If the outfit is red, make sure it isn't too 'busy'. In some cases, red lipstick goes well with turquoise. However, red lips are most easily worn with outfits that have red accents, such as piping, a duputta, a purse, etc. The secret to pulling off red lips depends mostly on whether or not it goes with the outfit you're wearing - so be cautious, but don't be afraid to go for it when appropriate. After all, red lipstick is about being daring - and that's just the message you'll send out when flaunting this look.

Some outfits that go well with red lips. 

[Credit: Left, Right ]