How to Choose the Right Lipstick

Hi guys, hope everyone is having a great start of the week :)

It's Monday and I already feel like it is the end of the week because I have a flight to catch soon. Thought I'd write a beauty-related post today since I am getting obsessed/excited whenever I start to put on makeup. I recently graduated from university and started my first job this year. Since then, I have been wanting to try new things including makeup. I have been slightly adventurous ;) Up to the age of 23, I have never owned a single lipstick and only used the Nivea Cherry or Strawberry lipgloss. The reason why is because when I was younger, my mum used to have hundreds (literally) of different coloured lipstick. I would always get excited when I saw these cute, tiny lipsticks. Some of them were samples because she used to sell them long ago when I was small. So, customers would come to our house and try the different coloured lipstick and I would sit down and watch and learn. When they left, I would beg her to let me try. Her little trick to stop me from asking to try every single lipstick was that she told me my lips would get brown and not pretty and pink if I wore too much lipstick. Being the young and innocent me at that time (still innocent by the way ;)), I believed her and that made me ask less to wear all those lipstick. So, today I want to dedicate this post to that younger me who loved lipstick but never wore any until the age of 23 because I did not want my lips to turn brown ;) She also told me that if I ever decided to smoke when I grow up, think twice because my lips would  be even browner. I was pretty concern about looking pretty even at a young age. To top that up, my mum always made sure I looked groomed and well-dressed. She would buy lots of girly dresses for me and pretty shoes and hair clips and dolls. I was very girly in general and still am. She would make sure I have table manners and sit respectfully like a girl even from when I was small. She would say habits when you are young will stick with you when you are old. Start being lady-like from a child and so I was. I like it how she raised me. I am a very feminine kind of girl. Speaking of which, I do want to write my opinion on feminism. Just that I think it would spark some controversial. I'll think about it, I might still do.

So today, as I start my career life, an advice my grandma gave me a few weeks ago was 'Don't forget to apply lipstick when you go to work. You must look presentable.' OK grandma ;) I do and now I have 3 main lipstick, one from Max Factor (middle), Bodyshop (top, lightest shade) and Kamelia (bottom most in the picture, my favourite coral shade!), a local brand. They are mainly nude, pink, coral or have an orange tinge to it. My skin has a yellowish-pinkish tan to it so it goes well with orange based lipstick.

Simple tips on choosing a lipstick:

• What kind of look are you going for? Sweet and simple, go pink. Natural look, go nude. Confident and bold, go red. Badass, go brown or black. Feeling exotic, go green, blue or anything new. Feeling like looking simple but presentable, go for tinted lipgloss then apply lip liner and mix it well.

• What skin colour are you? There are hundreds, if not thousands of skin colour. Let's say, 5 major groups. Very fair, fair, medium tan, tanned and dark-skinned. For fair skin, pinks and nudes are the best. For tanned skin, you need more colour to make your lips stand out, go for darker pink or red. If fair people apply red lipstick, it can look too much depending on the redness and the occasion. Tanned people can apply red lipstick anytime. If tan people, apply light pink or non-visible nude, it can literally look like you are not wearing any lipstick. For dark-skinned people, go for the darkest lipstick shade. Embrace your skin colour and be proud that your skin colour allows you to apply exotic coloured lipstick and make it look natural. There may be limited colour lipstick choices but you can rock all the darkest shades. if you are feeling bold, try bright red but I would not suggest bright pink. It would look out of place.

• What if there is no perfect-coloured lipstick for you? Well, that's the fun part. Mix and match. There is nothing wrong mixing and matching your lipstick and making it your own customised colour. The only cons of this are that it takes a little more time and creativity. I usually focus on other parts of my face then I just want a swipe of lipstick and I am ready to go. I do not usually want to test around and play with my lipstick and lipliners. I do not have many lipsticks to begin with and I already like how the original colour looks on me. Also, I always want to emphasise my cheeks or my eyes. I want my lips to look subtle and gently coloured. If you are lazy to apply eye makeup and want the emphasis to be on your lips, then, by all means, get creative with your lipsticks.

• A key tip I can give you is to swipe the lipstick on the inner part of your wrist. That part of your hand has very delicate and thin skin, just like your lips and usually because it is not exposed to the Sun directly, it is a good representative of what your original skin colour is. OK guys, please do not quote me on this. I did not read this anywhere. I just experimented and came up with this myself. It seems to work well for me so I am sharing here. I swipe the lipstick on my inner wrist like shown in the picture. I do not like to use lipstick testers on my precious lips, eww no. I accidentally did the other day because I was too excited at the makeup section but later struggled to ensure I got all the germs off of my lips and felt paranoid that it entered my mouth. So yeah, the key when you do this swiping on your wrist is to see if the colour goes well with your skin. How you tell if it goes well? Rub it in a circular motion on your wrist and see if the colour fades away easily but does not disappear. I repeat, the colour easily fades away but does not disappear. Why? Well, you want it to fade away easily to know that it matches with your skin tone. If it persists and does not fade away easily, it shows the colour is too harsh on your skin and does not match your skin tone. This is of course absolutely fine if you are looking for an exotic look. For people like me who like my lipstick to look natural and match with my skin colour, I do not want it to look exotic. Why do you not want the colour to fade easily when you rub it in a circular motion? If it fades away completely, it means that the colour is too light for your skin tone. Go for a darker colour. This is how I choose the perfect lipstick for me. 

These are some simple steps on how I choose my lipstick and look presentable. Have a wonderful week and take care everyone :)