With turkey day weekend marked as a time when people burst through Target’s doors to get free TVs, it also means that Christmas season officially begins. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, not only because of the holiday itself, but also because of all the beautiful holiday collections that every single brand tries to sell. Now I am not trying to preach or talk about the capitalist structure in the market today; I simply want to be a sucker for makeup, especially lipstick. It’s always a good idea to rock a classy red-lip holiday look, and with years of mistakes and collecting I have come up with a list of some of my biased favorites and recommendations (sorry, no give aways- I’m not a rich beauty guru yet).
#1 Bobbi Brown
LUXE LIP COLOR in PARISIAN RED
By far my favorite red lipstick, ever. For a long period of my time I had gone through considerable amount of red lipstick trying to find the perfect one, and I think this might be it for me. A warm-toned, bright cadmium red (sorry, habit of a painting student) with a bit of an orange undertone will give the skin a healthy glow. The creamy and moisturizing texture of the lipstick will save you the need to use chapstick. The only drawback is the fall out; as a traditional lipstick the fading is quite significant, however does not effect the overall worth of the lipstick and gives me an excuse to pull it out to show off my beautiful new makeup anyways.
#2 NARS
POWERMATTE LIP PIGMENT in DON’T STOP
This is one of my power red-lips. It’s cool-toned, bright crimson with a long-lasting, matte finish, however, it does stain my coffee cups, although the fall out isn’t noticeable on the lip. It is a bit hard to apply on bare lips, I would always recommend using a lip liner with this one particularly since the color can also be played around with from dark to bright using a darker lip-liner. The pigment can be very liquid-y; always be aware of the amount you’re applying. One con would be the common dry lip issue of matte lipsticks, but again, this is not a deal breaker.
#3 Maybelline New York
Color Sensational Red Lipstick Matte Lipstick in 04M (discontinued)
I had purchased this lipstick many years ago in another country (probably at three times the price in the U.S.) and am unable to find the exact same color from official site. However, I would still like to bring this collection to the table judging by the fact that there are similar products still on sale. I have not had great experiences with Maybelline when I first started doing makeup. Somehow, their products always made me break out bad. Yet this lipstick changed all of my prejudges of the brand and even with Mac trending like crazy, I found this collection’s dark matte red lipstick to work out so much better on me. Even during application, with a beautiful pigment and a nice brown red, it became a perfect replacement for over-the-budget products and even outstands them.
#4 3CE
MOOD RECIPE MATTE LIP COLOR #909 SMOKED ROSE
Produced by 3CE, a well-known Korean makeup brand under the company of Stylenanda, I received the product as a gift. What makes it an all-time staple is not only the sentimental component but also the beautiful color which makes me ignore some of its draw backs. It is the perfect color if you don’t want your lips to stand out but still want some attention. The color is a settled dark, cool red with a brown tone. However, the lipstick overall does have some cons such as the dry pigment which makes the application hard and uneven. I had the experience of breaking the lipstick trying to swap it while writing this review, so I would recommend being very gentle if using.
#5 BURBERRY
Lip Velvet Oxblood No.437
WARNING, this is simply a biased preference. I have collected many Burberry lipsticks simply because of my obsession with Cara Delevingne’s commercials and the elegant packaging and I can very confidently to say that it is not necessarily worth it, but I would still buy more if I had the money. The even application can be very challenging- once you have cracks in your lip it’ll just stick in there and not apply anywhere else. Even as a traditional lipstick the fall out is still more significant than expected.
However, I put this specific one on the list for a reason: the variation of the color, which itself still gives an elegant blood-red look. For one lipstick is quite impressive as the color appears considerably different after applying an added layer.
Mostly, its value seems to have gone to the packaging since I consider this the most beautiful lipstick packaging among all of my collections.
# Bonus M.A.C
MATTE LIPSTICK in SIN and CHILI
If reviewing red lipsticks, it would be a sin not to mention M.A.C who had opened the world of lipstick for me and also robbed all of my savings. However, with experiencing more and more red lipstick, I would dared to say that some of their well knowns are bit overrated.
As the first Dark lipstick I had in my life, sin was a lot. Not because of the beautiful color which I still found hard to replace in my heart, but because of its dry pigment and the challenge for aiming an even application.
With CHILI it was quite the opposite, while the pigment is not as disappointing the color was a lot different from the online photo reproductions. This is a life lesson with lipstick to never buy it before you see the real thing. The color is still beautiful, but to me there’s just simply more red shades that I would prefer with even less price.
Red lipsticks are more than just make ups, they are also indication of classic, passion, bold, mysterious… pretty much everything you can think of. They had given me power when I am at my lowest, but they had also scared me when I first made my attempted. They have given me better experience with another relationship with human that I have never had. So with that being said, you will have to excuse me and I will see you at a make up store losing my mind and money over another red lipstick.