In the words of the ever-iconic Audrey Hepburn, “I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick.” While all of these things resonate with me, I’m not sure even Audrey herself could understand my love affair with lip color.
Quite simply, wearing lipstick makes me feel more like myself. So it’s no surprise that when Kat Von D released her revamped collection of lipsticks, which seems to cover nearly every color of the rainbow, I fell head-over-heels in love. Two of the matte shades in particular caught my eye– Witches (a pitch black) and Echo (a deep navy blue.) I can’t begin to explain how much time I’ve spent on Instagram drooling over makeup artists rocking unusual lipstick colors. So I bought them, yet I still scoffed at the thought of me walking around campus with an ebony pout.
After joining Her Campus at Drexel, though, I had a change of heart. For the sake of journalism, why not just go for it? Maybe I’m not the only one wanting to try a bold makeup statement, but needs a little reassurance that, yes, normal people can pull it off, too. So I’m here to tell it like it is for our readers. Here’s what happened when I wore my blue and black lipsticks as part of my day-to-day look.
Blue Lips:
I wore Echo on a Monday. I’ll admit that I actually didn’t wear it to class, but that was because it was Modern Dance. At 9 am. I figure it’s pointless for me to get made up only to take a shower two hours later.
So, post-class and shower I went through my normal face-brows-eyes routine. I used an Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Sabbath (a deep blue) to line and semi-fill my lips. Since eye products are heavily regulated and restricted in their ingredients, they’re actually perfectly safe to use on your lips. Then I went over it with Echo, taking a couple minutes between the first coat and the second to avoid patchiness and get the full, matte coverage.
I spent the rest of my day doing homework at Saxbys and seeing friends in the evening. Honestly if there was anywhere I thought I was going to get weird looks, it would have been at Saxbys. Maybe I just look like the kind of person who would do a navy blue lip on a Monday afternoon. I honestly don’t know. My friends oohed and ahhed a little, knowing I had been planning this for a while. Aside from that, though, there was really no major reaction.
Black Lips:
I wore Witches on a Tuesday to both my Senior Problem and Fashion Show Production classes. After waking up late, I rushed to get my makeup basics done (and somehow forgot mascara) and brought my lipstick and liner to class to do it in the five minutes I had to spare once I had taken my seat.
Using my front-facing camera as a mirror, I lined my lips with NYX’s Retractable Lip Liner in Black Lips (a matte black; I had purchased it months before by accident, thinking it was eyeliner. Luckily it has come in handy with Witches.) Then I carefully layered Witches over it.
One of my friends was curious about trying black lipstick, so I handed over what I had so she could test them for herself. This was a fairly big mistake, considering I had nothing to do touch-ups with throughout the day. With a pink, red, or nude lip, patchiness and wear is harder to pick up on. But with black, any fading is obvious because of the contrast of the color of your lips with the dark lipstick.
Again, I got little to no reaction from my peers and friends – aside from them making fun of me for doing my makeup right as our teacher was walking in. I did finally get a reaction from an instructor I had during freshman year. We chatted briefly when I bumped into her in the parking lot, and she commented on not recognizing me because of the lipstick. I chuckled and told her it was a new experiment. Her eyes narrowed for a moment as she looked hard, and then she smiled at me. “It’s actually very attractive,” she said. I walked home with a little skip in my step.
The Verdict:
I felt like a total bada**! I even sent a selfie of the blue lipstick to my mom a few days later. Her response was “It actually really suits you.” Admittedly, I have a little bit of a goth streak. That might explain why the people around me were unsurprised at my makeup choices. But at the same time, I think this shows that in the age of the Instagram makeup artist, you’re free to make whatever beauty choices you want. Whether you’re contouring your face, getting your eyebrows on fleek, or wearing a bold, unusual lip color, your face is your canvas. I’ll definitely be wearing these colors more often, and I’m excited to try even more colors. If something makes you feel pretty and powerful, go for it!