Kiss & Makeup : If you don’t have luscious lips, don’t pout. There’s still time to brush up on your coloring technique before Valentine’s Day.
Having great lips is an art. The perfectly painted mouth takes an artist’s eye for color, a sculptor’s steady hand and a painter’s skill with a brush. The rest is done with chemistry--the chemistry between two people.
Even those born with full, sensuous lips must learn how to wield a lipstick like a pro. The always-tardy Marilyn Monroe reportedly spent forever painting up her famous mouth. Conversely, when makeup artists want to turn a beauty such as Michelle Pfeiffer into a dowdy waitress, bright lipstick is the first to go.
Gorgeous lips make the face. Red lips attract valentines. Jan Thielbar, a makeup artist and owner of Make-Up Creations in Irvine, knows the importance of a great pair of smackers.
“I did a make-over last night on a woman, and the lips really made the difference,” Thielbar says. “They looked so luscious. They brought out her eyes and facial features. Without her lipstick, it would not have been a total look.”
A sensuous mouth begins with the right lip color. There’s only one way to tell if a lipstick shade is right for you: Try the stuff on.
“Looking at the tube isn’t giving you the true color,” Thielbar says. Seeing it on a friend won’t help, either.
“Everybody’s lip color is different, and when (lipstick) goes on it looks different on each person,” she says.
Lip color should match your skin tone. Skin that has a faint bluish undertone looks best with blue-based lip colors such as pink, fuchsia and plum, Thielbar says. If skin has a warm, orange undertone, choose lipstick shades in the orange family such as peach and brown. The intensity of the shade depends on how light or dark the skin tone is.
“Lip color should be a little darker than your skin,” Thielbar says. “If it’s too light you look washed out.”
Red lipsticks are hot for Valentine’s Day, but not all reds are equal. Often they have a slight blue or orange cast.
“It took me years to find a true red,” says a triumphant Thielbar. She recently added her perfect red to her Make-Up Creations lipstick line ($8).
“Bright reds will always be popular on Valentine’s Day,” says Nikki Gersten, spokeswoman for Clinique in New York City. Yet not all women look their best in ruby-red lipstick. Clinique’s best-seller is a deep pink frosted shade called Raspberry Glace ($9.50) at department stores.
“Everyone seems to think they look good in it,” Gersten says. “It spans every skin color, every age, every geographic area. People like it because it’s not too bubble gummy, and it’s not too deep.”
Deep matte lipsticks that have no shine are still popular, but lighter sheers in neutral colors are making their way from fashion runways to cosmetic counters.
“It’s swinging back to a younger, youthful look. The lipsticks are pale, but with shine and a hint of pink,” Gersten says.
Natural tones such as warm plum, rose and taupe are strong for lips, says Robin Silber, cosmetic treatment buyer for Nordstrom in Brea Mall, MainPlace/Santa Ana and South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa.
The best-selling lipsticks at most cosmetic companies fall into the rose-taupe family. The top shades at M.A.C., a makeup line exclusive to Nordstrom, are Retro, a taupe color, and Twiggy, a muted mauve ($12). Runaway Rose and a taupe shade called Soft Mink are the hot sellers at the Chanel counter ($19), while Lancome’s No. 1 lipstick is a brownish rose shade called Crushed Rose ($15).
Bright orange and red tones “are real spotty,” Silber says. “They’re more seasonal.”
Brights and frosted lipsticks have also lost their luster at Revlon. They’ve been replaced by neutral shades and deep vegetable hues such as berry and plum. A rusty brown color called Toast of New York ($6.50) is Revlon’s No. 1 shade, according to Tanya Landor, vice president of marketing.
“There’s a movement from being made up to (having) a natural look,” Landor says. “A red, pink or orange lipstick is definitely makeup.”
Before applying the color, lips have to be prepped. Most makeup artists recommend starting with a lip conditioner (a tip dry-lipped men should follow, too).
“Lips need conditioning just like hair,” says Richard Stevens, makeup artist and co-owner of Stevens & Cross Cosmetic Studio in Newport Beach. He recommends applying a lip moisturizing stick fortified with Vitamin E before bed and at least five minutes before applying one’s makeup, then removing the moisturizer with a tissue.
“Lips that are dry never hold color,” he says.
To help lipstick stay in place, many makeup artists apply foundation and powder over the mouth as well as the face.
Foundation keeps the lipstick from running and makes the color last longer, Thielbar says. Powder also helps seal the color when lipstick tends to seep into the fine lines around the mouth.
Applying lipstick is a skill that even practiced makeup artists can have trouble mastering.
“I do the bow-and-arrow lip,” Stevens says. “People think it’s the Lucille Ball lip, but it’s really not.” Lips should be well sculpted but not exaggerated.
“You know those two little lines that come out of the nose? Those are where you turn the corners of the bow. You don’t make the turn until that imaginary line touches the lip.”
The corners of the mouth “always stay tight.” The bottom and top lips should line up at the corners perfectly, he says.
“You try to make the shape as pretty as you can,” Stevens says. “If you’re doing a sheer lipstick, make sure your lip liner isn’t showing. Nothing looks worse than seeing the lip liner.”
While big, bee-stung lips sent women hurrying to dermatologists for collagen injections just a few years ago, the emphasis has shifted to more natural lips.
“The lip shape is more based on your own lip, your face and not what you see on (model) Linda Evangelista,” Gersten says.
Still, those who want their lips to look more voluptuous can trace their lip liner around the outer edge of the mouth.
Lips “are not overdone or underdone,” Silber says. Looking like “a different woman after a make-over isn’t popular at all.”
Gorgeous lips make the face. Red lips attract valentines.
