Guide to buying the Perfect Nude Lipstick

For the last 2 years or so, eye make has been in the limelight - with smokey eyes & colored mascara galore. All this meant that the lips naturally were pared down in "nude" shades.

In India too, most girls like to go for the strong kajal eyed look, which for day time is paired with Nude Lips.

I have noticed that a lot of people equate nude lips with light beige colors, which frankly to me, makes them look washed out & ill. This is a high fashion look seen on a lot of ramp models & magazine covers, but this generally looks good only if you're doing a very intense black smokey eye look. That too only on magazine covers where the skin is photoshopped to matt perfection.

To me a modern nude lip is when the lips look natural. When looking for a nude lip color, one thing to remember is that natural lips are not nude, pale or beige unless a person is seriously ill.

Natural lip colors are more likely to be slightly red, rose or brown hued. So look for lipsticks that are mixtures of pink-peach, rose (dusty pink with hints of brown) or even light brown (hazelnut). If you are fair, don't go for very brown colors as they will just look muddy on you.

To counteract nude/pale lips wear a peachy or pink blush. Bronzer will make you look dull.

Some options for the natural nude look

1. Tinted Lip Balm: Nivea is a good option. Dragon Fruit matches me to a T. They have other shades as well. Even a clear glossy lip balm will serve the purpose, as long as it does not leave behind a whitish cast.

2. Clear Gloss with some shimmer: Colorbar makes nice shimmer clear gloss tubes. So does Jordana. Using clear gloss add the shine & finshing touches your lips need, also takes the guess work out as your natural lip color shines through. You can even opt for light pink, berry or peach colored tinted lip gloss to add some color if needed.

3. Matt & Creamy Lipstick: Bare by Colorbar is a personal favourite of mines in the matt category. These are generally more difficult to match as they are not so accomodating as lip gloss when it comes to colors. Matching the color to the tips of your fingers is a good option as the finger tips tend to be a lighter shade of the color of your lips. The skin here is just slightly thicker than your lips and has the same tint at times. In case you pick a shade that is too light, see if it can be salvaged with some clear gloss. Sometimes clear gloss softens up the lipstick starkness and makes it wearable.

 Rosy Nude by Revlon Colorburst is another the perfect creamy nude lipstick for my lips with a hint of color. This range has a number of neutral shades like Hazelnut & Blush.

4. Lip Pencil: The only lip pencil I have used till date is Lakme Glide On Lip Color. I use Rose Shimmer from this range.

  • Outline your lips with a pencil one shade darker than their natural color. 
  • Choose a rosy taupe color if you have fair skin, a pale brick hue if you have an dusky complexion & coppery shades if you have dark skin. 
  • Then fill in the lips with the pencil & then top them with a pale, gold flecked sheer lip gloss. 


What is your favourite Nude Lip Product?

Comments

  1. Tx for the fingertip idea. Nice way to figure out how a colour would look on the lips :-)

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  2. what a nice idea for a post! i agree, most people think that nude lips mean having concealer lips. "nude" means the colour that is closest to the natural colour of your lips, which is mostly a pink based colour. i have a "bare" shade from colorbar lying around. it's so similar to another lipstick that i own :(

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  3. @Rads: It's not perfect, but it does seem to help me a little bit when purchasing. I have so many colors that look Oh-So-Fab on the back of my hand, and horrible on the lips. I have learnt through trial & error that peach clashes horribly with me!

    @Rima: Thks :) Yea, lots of people actually use a concealor to mattt out their lips & apply lip gloss on top to make them look "nude".. I actually always felt that is a very drastic look and monochromatic... Nice light pink is so much better, like you mentioned. Glad u liked the topic :)

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  4. I generally apply concealer on my lips and then a slight red lip color..It gives me a perfect nude lips which I completely love..

    and i swear by colorbar creamy lipstick..They are fantastic..

    Real great post Tanz...

    never came across like this before..:)

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  5. @Anamika: Wow, that is new technique to use red to create nude lips! Very innovative :).. Even I like colorbar, they are priced well & have good shades. Though these days I am tripping over Colorburst :D LOL...

    Thks Anamika, glad u liked the post :)

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  6. I use my biotique / nivea lip balm as a base. On top of that I use brown - bubbly nude & cappuccino
    Rose Taupe lipsticks from Lotus.

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  7. Great post tanveer , I took nude lips as almost beige -ish pink lips , I used to wear dark shades in my teenage , almsot wore black but now I don't know I am scared of wearing anything else but nude lipsticks and strong kajal D'Oh am so typical

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  8. My guide to buy a nude lipstick. Thanks for this Tanvi.

    <3

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  9. i want a nude that matches my skintone. that's nude for me.. nyx round lipsticks has plenty of selection but its staying power aint great at all.

    new follower here
    http://otherrworldly.blogspot.com

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  10. very good tips Tanveer! For me, i find that Lakme 'Brick' matches my lip color almost perfectly! It's a bit matte, so what I do is apply liberally to mask the lipliner and color my lips evenly, then apply lip balm or butter with my fingertip; this helps remove excess lipstick and also gives it a nice glossy touch.

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  11. Very useful and informative guide for nude lipstick....will surely be of use!!

    HD

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  12. Wow.. Great post..loved it ( as usual should i say ?? ;-) )

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  13. Nice tips:)

    I'll try a brick colour next :)

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  14. Oooh I wish I were into lipsticks because I have a fresh stick of MAC in nude but it's lying useless as I'm a gloss person! :(

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  15. @Vidhya: Sounds like a good combination of tinted lip balm to nourish & lipstick to color
    :-D

    @Sarah: You are not alone babes! We all go through phases.. I remember in college I went through a phase when all I would wear was bright purple liner.. Then I quit cold turkey for 2 yrs during my MBA - donning only sober browns.. Now I am back to the outlandish phase with khaki greens & deep indigo blues.. :D

    @Shoppingaholic: Thks :D.. Glad u liked it :)

    @Maki: Hey! Thks for the follow. I will def chk out yr blog as well :-D
    I too have one NYX round lipstick - but yr right it has hardly any staying power. U r lucky u can carry off lipsticks the color of yr skin tone. One me they just look like I am ill. :(

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  16. @Ash: Hey! What a gr8 tip yaa.. I will try this myself :-D.. Thks for the comment :)

    @HD: Thks :)... Glad u liked it :)

    @Deep: Hey! Thks so much for the appreciation :D

    @Ki: Thks.. Do let me know how it works out for you :)

    @Tamanna: Hey! Gloss is very good for creating nude lips with some shimmer and shine :)... I used to be a gloss person myself untill 4 mnths ago. Then I went and got lipstick fever, and still recovering :D

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  17. Nice postTanveer.I love nude lipsticks but not the ones which give my face an washed out look but the ones which give me a natural look.

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  18. @RS: Thks :).. So do I, I prefer rose colored shades as they look most natural on me :)

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  19. Nice post Tanveer.
    I agree with you on the 'washed out' aspect.
    My go to nude is YSL Rouge Volupte # 23 and MAC
    Half-n-Half

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  20. Gr8 post..I am also very fond of nude lips, they look so natural and polished..I agree revlon and nivea both r great!!

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  21. @Maddy: Thks :)... I think we Indian women just look better with that hint of color in our lips, as it is most of us have pigmented lips :).. I haven't tried either of the lipsticks u mentioned, but I will chk them out. Thks for the reccos :D

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  22. @Simran: Thks :).. better to embrace what you have and enhance. It is also more effortless look and more forgiving of mistakes. ;)

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  23. excellent tips .I also use a gloss ovr my fav nude lippie to get that soft foccused look :)

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  24. I was reading this post again and I noticed a small grammatical mistake in my comment.I have mistakely written ' an washed out'.Please read this as 'a washed out look'.This happens sometimes when you write your comment in a hurry.Sorry.

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  25. I agree with u that one shouldn't equate nude with beige. Beige just looks so pale, like the Mac lipstick Myth.

    The best MLBB lip product I had was Blistex Lip tone lip balm stick, which unfortunately is finished

    ♥xx♥

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  26. Great article! I could never find a nude lipcolor that suited me until I realized that a nude lip does not mean trying to erase your lip altogether! Thank you for this.

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  27. Hey,

    This is the first time I'm writing on your blog.

    Just wanted to say that this was a very informative article.

    I'm newly into nude lipsticks. Since I have a dusky complexion, I was really confused about what shades to go for.

    The article made things clearer.

    Thanks again! :)

    ReplyDelete

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