I was thinking the other day during one of my makeup musing moments that usually occur on the tube mid-Candy Crush, how back in the day when I was a student at Uni no one really wore red lipstick. I was really trying to rack my brains, but I seem to remember we were all in the grips of a TOWIE stage; tan, more tan and lashes. A slick of nude gloss on the lips, if that. Now bold lips are a bit of a daily norm. I even sported MAC Lipstick in Neon Orange the other day with not much else in a last ditch attempt to channel some Parisian chic into my look, though it probably ended up looking like ‘sweaty girl who’s gone a bit too crazy in Sainsburys and now can’t carry it all home‘ chic. In fact one of my favourite parts of getting ready to go out is seeing what my lipstick adventurous mate, Lauren, is going to put on her pout. Hint: it’s usually a YSL Glossy Stain. But equally I still love a nude, albeit not the porno lips we all were pulling out a few years back – hello MAC Myth – but a ‘my lips but better’ shade equally balanced in the brown, pink and beige departments. But the question is, what one rules supreme in the lipstick charts now: bold or nude? There used to be a clear winner, but now the game has changed.
Let’s examine the evidence. A slick of deep berry or a vamped-up red can give an instant kick-ass attitude, take any look from drab to fab (sorry so cliché, but I had to) and can turn up the level of any look to make it look like you’ve put a bit of thought into it. But, they can be a pain in the ass to apply when they wanna be and there’s the lipstick on the teeth niggle that never really goes away until you wipe it off. Nude on the other hand blends in if you smoosh it all over your teeth, goes with pretty much everything and can balance out a heavy eye makeup. Though it lacks that certain air of glamour and ‘yeah I’m wearing lipstick, so what?’ vibe that I sort of dig.
So where do you sit on the bold to nude spectrum? They both have their time and place, but if you had to pick one where would you choose to stand?
Note: It’s MAC Lipstick in Rebel and Patisserie pictured above and I harbour deep feelings for both. I think I’ll have to teeter uncomfortably on the fence with this one. That’s it, practice what you preach Anna…
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