I'm not brave when it comes to make-up, but with a view to upping my game I've been pottering around trying to find the perfect shade of red lipstick to suit my pale skin tone. It's a difficult thing to do, especially when you're used to fairly neutral shades, it almost feels like the lipstick is wearing you and nothing seems quite right. Some reds are too bold, some make you look like a ghost, others are too orange in tone, and some too brown.
NIGHTMARE.
I was pretty excited when I read about the new L'Oreal Collection Exclusive Pure Red line, a selection of 4 matte red lipsticks, each with a different celebrity behind it. You of course have Eva, Blake, Liya and Julianne with their own shade of red perfectly suited to compliment their hair and skin tone. The idea behind the range is that everyone should be able to find their perfect red! Challenge Accepted.
As you can see, I opted to try Julianne at home, given my pale complexion, I thought this might suit me best. First things first, lets take a moment to appreciate the packaging, it's sleek, feels pretty luxe and has a gorgeous contrast between the black matt textured casing and gold banding.
Then there's some subtle detailing hidden away on the lid. All this, for a snip at only £6.99, I thought to myself, what have you got to lose? (I got this on offer for £5.99 in Superdrug but it's not available online just yet!)
In the bullet, the colour seems a little coral in tone, I realise in the picture it looks quite orange but trust me, on the lips it's far from orange and actually leans more towards the pink side of things.
Being a matte red, the colour is pretty long lasting, I gulped my way through several drinks, a pizza and some chicken and there was still a notable amount of colour on my lips. It was obviously more prominent towards the edges with some fading on the centre of my lips. Sure it needed a little reapplication post grub to even out the colour, but what was left on my lips at this stage was pretty akin to a stain.
As I don't own a lip brush I applied the Pure Red Lipstick straight from the bullet. You can see from both the swatch and the pictures above that the level of pigment in the lipstick and the colour pay-off is pretty sweet! I've taken a photo in different lights so you can get more of a feel for the colour.
I'm a total newbie on the matte lipstick front and I can say that these actually felt pretty comfortable on the lip. My lips certainly didn't feel as juicy as when I'm wearing a gloss or balm based product, but by no means drying thanks to the Jojoba.
I think the Julianne shade works really well with my complexion, it's not overly intrusive and I reckon it looks great with a more pared down make-up look.
Have you tried any of the L'Oreal Collection Exclusive Pure Reds yet? What do you think of the Julianne Shade? Did I pick the right shade for my complexion?
This is a really pretty shade on you. The subtle coral-orange undertones complement your complexion really well. I struggle with lip color in general, though I'm getting bolder. I attended a make-up event at MAC last month, where the make-up artist recommended a shade and tried it out on me. I trusted her judgement, went home with it, and have worn it a couple times a week since then. I have a cherry red lip treatment from Sugar, too. They're like a lip moisturizer saturated with color. Before I tried the vampy red from MAC, I found the cherry too bold. Now, the cherry red seems like a subtle alternative. It's all about perspective, right? Right now, I'm just easing into trying lip color. Hopefully soon I'll have a better handle on what shades do and don't work for me. As for you - this one's a real winner! Your last shot is just gorgeous. So very pretty and with minimal make-up to let your inner beauty shine through. :-)
ReplyDelete<3 Liz
www.withwonderandwhimsy.com
Thanks Liz! I appear to be gravitating towards coral shades eh?
DeleteI struggle as well in terms of lip colour and tend to stick to subtle pinks and nudes but I thought I'd be a little bit braver this time around.
I love that with this range, some of the guess work as to whether the shade will suit you is taken away, the idea of using celebrities is great! My real problem is that I need someone there to tell me whether something looks good or not as it's so out of my comfort zone, I tend to stare at my face in the mirror questioning whether or not I look 'right'.
Those lip treatments from Sugar sound great, I'm hoping that when I hit the Sephora in Rome I'll be able to grab a couple!
You're right, it is all about perspective, I've been loving the Clinique Chubby Sticks for a subtle pop of colour and they're quite a nice way to get used to the idea of more colour in your make-up routine.
Also thanks for your sweet compliment, Ad took that shot after I'd had my hair by the lovely ladies at Garnier, the make-up was all me though ;p I like things very simple in that respect, especially with such a bold lip.
Laura x