Afraid Nude Lipstick Makes You Look Sick? Korean Makeup Artists Say You Don't Need to Completely Cover Your Natural Lip Color
It turns out all that crazy concealing was for nothing.
Summary
- When doing a nude lip, don't completely cover your natural lip color. Just use concealer to lightly touch up any darkness around the lip edges.
- Choose a sheer rose nude or peach brown, which blends with your natural lip color much better than a pale nude tone.
- Remember to use a lip liner one shade darker to trace your Cupid's bow and the bottom lip line, bringing back the dimension that nude shades tend to wash out.
- Dab a bit of brick-red lip tint on the center of your lips and pair it with a blush in the same color family to instantly restore warmth to your complexion.
Nude lipsticks have been incredibly popular the last few seasons, but many people find that once they get them home, they lack a certain polished feel—or worse, friends ask if they are feeling sick. To make the color show up, we are used to blanking out our lips entirely with concealer before applying the lipstick. But Korean makeup artists point out that you don’t actually need to cover your natural lip color completely.
Leave a little base color to avoid looking washed out
Instead of completely covering your natural flush, current Korean makeup trends lean toward preserving a bit of that low-saturation natural feel. If you blindly choose a pale nude-beige that matches your skin tone, it easily erases the boundary between your lips and your face, making you look washed out. If your lips are naturally darker, start with a rose nude or peach brown; these shades let a hint of your original lip color show through.
When doing your makeup, just use a tiny bit of concealer to lightly clean up any redness or darkness around the edges of your lips. Leaving your natural base color in the center of your lips maintains the quiet feel unique to a nude lip while keeping any washed-out look to an absolute minimum.
Add lip liner so your lips don’t look flat
Another reason nude lipstick can make you look pale is that light shades swallow up your lips’ dimension and outline. That is where lip liner comes to the rescue. Pick a pencil that is one shade deeper than your lipstick, or one that matches your original lip color.
Trace along your Cupid’s bow and the edge of your bottom lip, then lightly blend it inward with a finger or a brush. If you have thinner lips, you can draw slightly outside your lip line where you want some extra fullness, then layer on your nude lipstick. With this soft ring of shadow, your lips will still have a beautiful fullness, even without wearing a bold red.
Add a touch of color to the inside to bring back your overall warmth
After toning down your lip color, keeping the balance of your face is also important. Makeup artists suggest lightly dabbing a tiny amount of rose or brick-red lip tint on the inside of your lips. That faintly showing rosiness looks exactly like your lips’ natural flush.
Finally, don’t forget to sweep a little peach-nude or rose blush onto your cheeks. It doesn’t need to match your lipstick exactly; just keep the tone soft, leaving the focus of your makeup on a clean base and a refined lip contour. That relaxed yet highly polished nude lip look is then complete.
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