rogue rouge

like the title? i do too!
anyway, i decided to post this because red lipstick seems to have been everywhere lately. ever since jen brill came on the seen with her eternally red lips, it seemed all the girls on the late night scene wanted their lips blood red as well. we've seen the red lip done at a myriad of fashion shoes, in a slew of fashion editorials and on the high heel clad girls downtown. are you curious about trying this look? the look is appealing to me, but i'm not ready for it yet. before i jump into the world of sexy red lips i'm going to do some research. in order to get the perfect red look you need to take your skintone into account. here are some great options that i found.
? me

the lip of luxury lipstick in drop dead red by too faced is drop dead gorgeous. it goes on smooth and has a diamond shine. it's perfect for romantic evenings out or fancy events. this color is best for people with lighter skin with pink undertones. you can get it for $18 from freepeople.com. i think a large part of the price is accounted for by the fact that it contains champagne essences. i wonder if you wore it enough, if it would be possible for you to get drunk? farfetched...but you never know!

IMAN Luxury Moisturizing Lipstick in Iman Red 005 is an excellent choice for those with darker medium to dark skin. as you can see in the swatch above, it is a very warm red. but what i like about it is that it is still a true red. it's not too orangey or pinky, it's a pure warm red. there aren't a lot of makeup lines that cater to women of color, but i think Iman did a great thing by formulating a makeup line for women of color. believe it or not, women of color aren't just black women--they're indian, chinese, pakistani, hispanic--they're from island nations, from africa, etc. it's very hard to get all of those different skintones into a bottle, so i'm definitely an advocate for more specialty makeup lines! ok...that's my little spiel...on to the next shades...

Neutrogena Moisture Shine Lipstick is relatively cheap and has three good red shades for various skintones. poppy red is a less intense, muted red for those with light to light medium skintones. the red isn't too intense, so it'll leave your lips looking flushed. cherry twist is a glamorous red for light to medium skintones. it seems to have a slight blue undertones, so it would really pop on people with very warm, orangey/yellowy color in their skin. pomegranate is a beautiful red that reminds me of the sauce on pizza, and it looks just as yummy! this shade would be great for darker medium to dark skintones because it could bring out the gold and bronzey undertones in those complexions.

Luxury for Lips Moisture Rich Lipcolor from Kohl's also has three shades for different skintones. rose wonder is a sheer red that's good for lighter skintones, but could work as a nude color on darker skintones. nantucket red is definitely on the berry side, but would be a snazzy red option for darker skintones, and probably wouldn't require the wearing of lipliner. siren red is great for light to medium/dark skintones. i love it's bright hue.

other red lipsticks that i've heard are popular are from kevyn aucoin, sheseido and givenchy. so if you're willing to shell out a lot of cash you can look into those brands. :)