Beauty Trend: Vamped Up Lips

Pucker up ladies! It is all about lips these days. Over the past few months we have watched a change from muted, almost skin colored nude tones to bright berry pink shades. The July cover of Vogue reveals a new glam burgundy, almost wine stained lip color on model Natalia Vodianova for all of us makeup fiends to try. Pulling off this look requires some restraint though, because there is a very fine line between dramatic and theatrical.

How-To: In order to wear such a bold color, it is best to tone down the rest of your face; that means no blush, and, whatever you do, avoid anything that resembles a ‘smoky’ eye that pushes vampy over the edge to (for lack of a better word) trampy. Light, natural eyes look great and keep the focus on the lips. If you’re addicted to eye makeup, like me, and want to use a little light shadow, a nice shimmer dusted on the inside corners really works to open up the eyes… and just a few strokes of mascara never hurt anybody. The magazine recommends using a liquid foundation and a cream highlighter on the cheeks to get that coveted luminous skin. Hair should be soft and tousled around the face to take away the severity of the lips.

Colors to Try: The exact shade used on Natalia is Lancome’s Color Fever Lipstick in Violet Fashion, Not Victim. But we also enjoy Nars in Scarlet Empress, Mac in Diva, and Vincent Longo’s Velvet Riche Rejuvenating Lipstick in Rain Dance.