Why do bright lipsticks look great on other people...

[headfairy]

But really ageing on me? I've tried so many different ones but they never look right and yet other people, even ones older than me look great in them. What am I getting wrong? I'm fairly yellow sallow, fair hair, blue eyes. In summer I tan easily hence my slightly yellowy sallow (call it olive-lite) colouring.

I don't know. I watched a Lisa Eldridge video about red lipstick and apparently there are all sorts of tones that suit different people.
So, i wrote a list of the ones she recommended. Dh promptly threw it away, so I have to watch it again.
There is a lipstick for you somewhere.

Dh just told me note said Ruby Woo suits everyone. Seems he remembers more than I do.

Do you think so? I've tried so flipping many you'd have thought I'd have found it by now!

I too have this problem. Every summer I look at all those women looking fantastic in fuschia pink lipstick. Every year I buy one, and every year I bin it. My DH now refers to it as "wtf pink".

You have to find the right shade and you have to get used to what you look like with it on.

Try a gloss or sheer version of a colour you like, then when you've got used to how it looks on you, move on to a lipstick

Could you try a bright but light or slightly texture? That can sometimes make a difference when I try them. I am dark blonde hair, blue eyes, tan easily, warm-toned skin. I was colour analysed as a Spring by HoC and apparently should wear bright lipstick. Sometimes I find good (warm) ones, I tend to find the cooler in tone they are the older they make me look/less they suit me.

These are ones that I've liked:
Revlon Lip Butter Candy Apple (warm red)
Topshop Brighton Rocks (Bright Pink)
Chantecaille do some nice warmish reds that don't feel too heavy
MAC Crosswires (Coral)
Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Monte Carlo

I quite like a few of the Topshop brights actually, I can't remember the name of the others.

Perhaps you have muted tones like Sarah Jessica Parker. If so, low-contrast makeup will work much better for you. Do you look good in khaki and neutrals?

People sometimes make the mistake that because makeup is available in peacock colors, they must find a use for all of it. Personally, my best colors are muted and toned down, pearlescent pinks, softly smoky blue grays, taupes, pale golds. I have blue/pink undertones but am pale-skinned and blonde. I can wear bright lipstick (if that is the only accent on me) but muted always looks better.

If you need to try on a red, try on something with a faintly peachy/ orange tone. Red lipstick does not look good on everyone. Do nudes look better on you?

I live in Italy and see lots of stylish olive-skinned women every day. Very few of them ever wear red lipstick. I see them looking stunning in flesh tones, nudes, and brownish/winey shades.

I'm the same. For years I've told myself that I should stick to the smoky eye, neutral lip as that what suits me but this winter I've had an urge for a red or bright pink lipstick. I've bought them and have been wearing them round the house to get used to but they still look awful. Back to the neutrals for me until I get my next urge for colour.

DonaAna you are right, the sorts of colours that suit me are usually khaki and neutrals, though beige type colours totally wash me out if I wear them next to my face. I guess you're right, maybe I just don't suit bright lipstick. It's just that sometimes I really feel like I need some colour to brighten my face up, especially in winter, and piling on the bronzer just doesn't cut it all the time.

Try dabbing the lipstick on with your ring finger, and use a gloss on top if you like it shiny - much easier to get used to than a thick coating.....

I went to the Bobbi Brown counter last week and tried on loads of bright lip colours, as I really wanted a good red for the winter but I've always worn neutrals. I came away with 'Uber nude' which as the name suggests is a lovely neutral. The bright colours just looked so wrong, no matter how much I wanted to like them.
Dona has made me realise why (thank you), I don't suit high contrast make up, it just isn't my style and doesn't suit my colouring. For what its worth I am a HOC autumn, and look best in dark muted tones (khaki, brick red, dark teals) and awful in the paler beiges etc. Maybe you are the same?

I'm the same - I look at pictures of people with the same kind of skin tone and c olouring, then buy the same colour and it just doesn't work on me. I also feel very self conscious so it just doesn't really work.

Headfairy does brick red or those lipsticks that were on everyone in 1990s (brownish tones, "mocha", "cappucino" etc but actually they were deep semi-matte flesh tones tinged bit a bit of purplish brown - does anyone else remember Elaine Irwin here and here) work on you? I've always envied women who wear well those shades.

Bobbi Brown got started back then BTW - I remember when US Vogue touted her as the emerging new label...

I think for bright lipstick you need that perfect lit from within skin that requires a professional make up artist and a couple of hours of your spare time.

dammit soundevenfruity I left the make up artist and lighting crew at home today :o

DonaAna I think they do suit me better, in that they are less ageing. The more pillar box red ones are very ageing for me. But those dark browy matte lipsticks make me think of the cast of Friends in the early 90s or <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=courteney+cox+scream&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=NUi&sa=X&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&biw=1024&bih=635&tbm=isch&tbnid=6-KrMR1Qo0j_yM:&imgrefurl=www.defectivegeeks.com/2011/05/02/the-evolution-of-courteney-coxs-hair-throughout-the-scream-movies/&docid=dLzddu0DaW8spM&imgurl=www.defectivegeeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Courvid-Scream-2-david-and-courteney-cox-arquette-615899_1024_768.jpg&w=1024&h=768&ei=yyjCUM3OCaWM4gSyvYCwBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=76&vpy=282&dur=280&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=167&ty=110&sig=115771097042537609425&page=1&tbnh=136&tbnw=178&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0,i:105" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Courtney Cox in the Scream movies :o

I find properly covering any blue/greeness around my eyes neutralises everything and makes brights easier to wear for some reason.

headfairy it sounds like you've got similar skin colouring to me, and although I have darker hair, I suit khakis and neutrals but look like death in beiges. The one fairly bright lipstick that suited me (IIRC, haven't worn it for a while) was MAC's Chili. It's a beautiful warm red, so it doesn't look like I'm wearing those plastic lips you used to get in Christmas crackers (which Ruby Woo and Russian Red always looked like). It's one of their Matte lipsticks, though, so it can be a bit drying.

If you don't wear bright lipstick that often, it can take a bit of time just to get used to the look of it on your face. (You know, catching sight of your reflection and thinking "argh, where the fuck did those lips come from?!") Do you think that might be it?

I've just got Bobbi Brown's red and I LOVE it. I have pale skin and dark hair so red works quite well on me. But other fashions completely pass me by - I cannot do those bubblegum pinks that were around for most of the late nineties, and I can only wear pale, neutral eye make-up or I look like I've been beaten up.

One thing though - with bright lipstick and not-done eyebrows I look thoroughly weird. Don't know why, but it just doesn't work unless my eyebrows are pencilled in.

I don't have perfect lit-from-within skin, by the way but the lipstick makes me look as if I do. I'm so impressed with it.

I wore red in the 90's - I looked like a right numpty - I'm just not the right colouring for red and just look much better with strong eyes and a lip colour the same as my very pinkish lips.

I'm in the bright lips but very neutral eyes camp. If I wear bright lipstick my whole face looks as if it has more colour (and that's not because it's smeared everywhere). Today I've been wearing a mixture of Rimmel Kate Moss and Bourjois one of which is a slightly burgundyish red and the other a strong pinky red. I press the lipstick on and then blend with my finger for a softer look.

The one time I tried neutral lipstick I looked slightly dead, so the whole Victoria Beckham/Sophia Loren look of dark eyes and neutral lips would never work on me.

niminy it would appear that Victoria Beckham/Sophia Loren probably suits me, which is odd being blonde with blue eyes. Maybe at the grand old age of 42 it's time to give up my quest to find a red lipstick that suits me.

try this page www.janefardon.com/what-colours-suit-me/

you can see what skin colour you are, and then search for recommended colours of lippy. I use this makeup all the time and am very happy with it.

poo. didn't convert the link!

www.janefardon.com/what-colours-suit-me/

and there should be a red to suit everyone - you can send a photo of yourself in, and they will recommend a colour for you!