I Wear: Bold Words Deserve Bold Lips

An I Wear post at long last!

After I was liberated from my nude makeup modesty constraints a few years ago, I swung out to the other extreme to reclaim what has always been mine – a love of BOLD, BRIGHT, DRAMATIC, WHO CARES ABOUT THE RULES dressing and makeup.
I discovered liquid lip colour sometime last year. Liquid lip colour, like the name suggests is literally liquid in a bottle. It’s a lot like painting your nails, except you’re painting the soft, crinkly, thin-skin, fleshy bits that you call your own lips. If like me, you’ve had trouble getting your nails right, boy are you in for an adventure with liquid lip colour! And yet, I persisted. Mainly for the challenge, some for the novelty and a fair bit because liquid lip colours have added a new dimension to the lip hue range.

Yeah sure, I have one shade from the traditional range and obviously it has to be my signature colour of screaming red. This is Nyx Kitten Heels. It’s an orangey-red and now that I’ve figured out the elaborate application and touch-up process it looks the way it does. This picture is without airbrushing, Photoshop or Instagram filters. But it is with lip exfoliation, moisturising, lining, application, correction, concealer and matting. Yes, this is not for the faint of make-up heart.

So why you ask, would I go to such effort for a red I’d get in the much easier formats of lipstick tubes? Because liquid lipstick (once you perfect the application) paints on much more sharply than the crayon-rub that most of us do with regular tubes. It also lasts way longer which is a big plus for people like me who swallow most of our lip colour when we talk (which I do a LOT) and eat. But again, given the considerable effort, I’d rather go with the apply-reapply-touch up of tubes for the other colours like pink and brown.

Let’s come to the really exciting bit and the real reason I’ve gotten so fond of liquid lipstick – bold colours! Here’s starting with a bold. If you said black, you’d have been just a little short of correct. Because my first bold liquid lippie was a grey. Here’s Nyx Stone Fox, a metallic grey which seems to confuse people. It’s not the stop-you-in-your-tracks black. Grey also reflects colours you’re wearing a bit so everything seems to blend seamlessly and yet….

Technically speaking the above was not my first bold liquid lipstick. But Nyx Amethyst is that safe gateway drug into crazy, mad colours. It’s a gorgeous purple but not purple like you’ve ever seen on lips. Apparently the beauty blogger/makeup professional way of describing this is to call it a ‘cool purple with more blue’. Yeah, whatever. Look at my FIERCE!

Once the mind is freed of colour boundaries, the whole world opens up in Technicolour. Except I’ve never been shy of bright colours. So I did my ‘let’s give this a shot for a change’ going to what I’d usually consider too safe for me – a dark maroon. Nyx Oh Put In On did that wonderfully because it’s almost black but just short of, which takes it away from 70s aunty territory but keeps it from falling into wannabe goth land. I think this one has slightly brown undertones. While I’ve never enjoyed wearing brown as a colour, I can’t deny it really brings out the glow in my face.

And since I’d gone into almost goth territory, I figured I’d round it with claiming black too. I haven’t actually worn this out properly yet and I’m still working on a way to wear it without doing goth. Nothing against goth, it’s just that that is the stereotypical way to wear black. I’ll do an I Wear post or video about that in some time. This is Nyx Alien.

And finally, a blue to complete the entire range! I already have a blue, an unusual format involving a brush and a palette that looks more like an eye-shadow box but never mind that now. Here’s Nyx Jet Set and as you can see it’s an inky blue which could give you a schooltime learning-to-use-ink-pen flashback. Or if you can remember it really makes your teeth look bright white, your smile could dazzle everyone into seeing you as a star. Well, at least that’s what I’m hoping. I love this colour.

Now for a few tips for any of you inspired to give these a shot:

• Please IGNORE anybody, professional or otherwise who tells you what colour ‘suits’ your skintone or not. The beauty industry is built on making women feel insecure about their looks and India doesn’t treat dark girls well. It’s up to you to reclaim your pride. This is how I do it. Dark girls can have all the fun.
• Practice does make perfect. Don’t expect to master liquid lippies in one go. It will not look the way it does in beauty magazines. Remember to do this for yourself and it’ll be nothing but fun.
• Keep refining your technique. I found Youtube tutorials immensely helpful in this regard.
• The colours shown on sites do not match most of the actual products. Youtube is full of reviews but most of them are by non-Indians. These colours do not look the same on Indians as they do on white people or black people. There’s a rare Indian video here and or there but the production quality is usually not the same which means the actual shade is anybody’s guess. If possible, check out the colour in a store. Or be like me and just take a wild leap of faith!

Here’s how I apply liquid lipstick:

1. Exfoliate using a mascara brush and transparent lip balm. Remove excess with tissue.
2. Outline with lip liner. For the crazier colours, I just use eye pencils.
3. Apply the liquid using the applicator. No smacking. Fill in the insides first. With a light hand complete the outer edges.
4. Reapply lip liner.
5. Tidy up the edges with tissue if needed.
6. Apply loose powder on the outside of the lips just to make the whole thing look sharp.
7. Rule with a SMILE!

So, what do you think? Like the crazy colours on my face? Or should I go back to hiding behind deep, sometimes obscure poetry?