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How To Wear Pink When You Already Look Like a Beetroot

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I’ve often regaled tales around these parts about my beetroot-esque complexion that flares up for absolutely no reason pretty often. A splash of water? Redness. A cleanser I haven’t used before? Redness. I breathe out? Redness. You get the gist. My rouge-based complexion means I have to go hard with the coverage whenever I want to don a red pout and well, if I’m in the mood for some pinks in the cheek and lip departments then I can dream on. However, recently I’ve found a few pre-game tips and a collection of petal hues that actually don’t make me look the colour of that pink custard that the Teletubbies used to chow down on, and it all begins with primer.

I won’t bore you with the colour spectrum science, but the long and short of it is that any areas of redness are neutralised down with the help of green-based products. I’ve tried a load of these overs the years and have spent the day walking around looking like a alien with a thick layer of product that might as well have been mint choc chip ice cream all over my face. But the formulas have advanced over the years to be thinner, easier to blend and less noticeable. Case in point: the Dior Fix It Colour in 400. I like to apply a hydrating primer first all over my face and then just target certain areas with this before blending it in with a BeautyBlender. Of course there’s still a slight tinge of green left behind – I guess that’s the whole point – but my redness isn’t half as noticeable and after a bit of base I’m ready for some pink to be injected back into my face.

Now the cheek product that I’ve fallen for is the Too Faced Love Flush in Baby Love that Sandra got for me in a swap we did months ago. Most of the blushers in my stash fall into the saturated ‘peachy-pink’ category, but this definitely falls more into the pink side of things. It’s pretty warm in tone, so doesn’t make me look like a doll and isn’t too obvious once I’ve blended it in with a bit of highlighter above and bronzer below. In fact, it’s very similar to what my cheeks flush-up like naturally *looks off into the distance and wonders if all those previous steps were entirely necessary*…

For lips, I think you’ll be a bit surprised by this one. It’s the Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Liv It Up, which was recently released as part of her Hot Lips Collection. It’s a proper pink. There are no nude tones going on here! But much like the Too Faced Blusher, it’s a warm almost yellow-based colour that’s salmon-toned. You know how we all went mad for MAC’s Snob back in the day? This is the more wearable, grown-up version of it that doesn’t have that jarring lavender-vibe going on. I personally like it lightly grazed over the lips and then smooshed in with my finger so it looks like more of a natural stain.

See pink? I knew that we could get on eventually.

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