For me, it was just a lot of trial and error. I think having some fearlessness about trying color helps a lot–just try it once and see how you feel about it. The other thing I noticed was that certain color combinations just work better than others (between eyes, cheeks, and lips), so it wasn’t always that the lip color didn’t work but rather that it didn’t pair well with the rest of what I was wearing.
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Having brown hair, brown eyes and a neutral complexion allows me a lot more choice. So it comes down to preference and the style I want to have. I don’t think there is a color that doesn’t look good per se but rather there are colors that don’t suit me personally and just aren’t me!
Trial and error, mostly. I’m lucky in that with my coloring, most lip colors work on me, even really “out there” ones like neons, greige, grays/blacks, blues/teals, greens/olives, etc.
It also helped having artistic parents. Both drew and painted. My mom modeled before meeting my dad and she was a lipstick ?????. I did lots of arts and crafts stuff, and I picked up a lot of color theory without realizing it until I was older.
Getting advice from Temptalia readers, Phyrra Nyx’s blog, and such helped me with tougher shades that never worked on me in the past, such as most vampy colors and lighter nudes. There are so many shades, finishes, and formulas out there now. There are shades/finish combs that will work, but it’s nice to have some help narrowing those down! Having the internet, and helpful people with similar coloring and issues, makes the process much less expensive and frustrating.
Ditto, trial and error which is an expensive way to narrow the field. For me, rules of cool and warm have not helped in the least. Lots of lipsticks look okay, but a much much narrower group really pop.
I always go to a MAC store and try the shades I’m interesting in, to see how they suit my complexion. When I decide on a color, I’ll leave the store with that on to see how I like the color in natural lightning or a couple of hour later. I prefer to use my `regular` make-up when doing that, something not very strong. I have an odd complexion and most times shades translate very different on me, compared to online swatches and even the color in the bullet.
Actually, I’m still trying. I can figure out eye looks fine, but somehow coordinating my lips is harder. I can to the opposite though, choose a good lipstick color and then do my eyes (I have no idea why this works better for me); however since I’m not a lip person, I don’t really like doing my face that way. Anyone else have lip color issues?
Working with the outmost limits that my own coloring imposes is something that definitely helps me pick shades that I not only love, but that I will actually use. My coloring is quite neutral, but has a noticeable olive undertone to it, with a golden, almost peachy overtone. One may think that this neutral shade has to mean that I could get away with any color I want, right? Um, no. I do not look good in anything that runs too cool or too warm. No yellow-brown, yellow-orange, blue-pink or true greige lipstick looks quite right on me. I look best in almost any shade of red, plum, burgundy, brown, coral, warm fuchsia, warmer purple, even teal, though! Plus, pinky, beigey or peachy darker nude mlbb shades , of course. I do believe that gives me enough wiggle room!
Trial and error, sales associate recommendations, and compliments from people.
I tested a lot, found some favourites but never really understood why they work on me. I knew that cool, dark colors are good on me, blue based reds are wondes, and I aleays tried to wear dark browns too, but those were always a disaster. I did not know why.
Until the point I learned the whole color analysis thing, and started doing it on people.
Turned out, I’m a dark/deep winter, so that’s why every deep and dark or stron, cool color look good on me, even without makeup. So nowadays I choose according to my type, and voila, no more lipsticks that just sit on my vanity table any more! 🙂
Whole face of makeup changes the things, with a full face, I can even make dark brown to work! 😀
I’m a Spring, according to my coloring. Blue reds don’t look as good on me as red-oranges, etc. now I know why! Also, the lipsticks I seem to favor most are corals & pinks. I can get away with a neutral red, & a fushia lipstick though. A peach nude will work, but cannot do dark colors or browns. Even rose browns. A copper is ok if it’s shimmery.
I am not sure I know how to do this now, or at least not consciously. I have pretty pigmented lips so some of my lipstick choices are based on the depth of colour and of course my own preference. I am a berry, plum, pink, red sort of gal and the bulk of my lipsticks fall in that range. Prior to following Temptalia I would never venture out of my comfort zone so you didn’t see anything with a hint of brown in it, on my lips. I didn’t do anything in the coral/orange families and nothing to out there in terms of colour. I think the first lipstick that I purchased that I didn’t think would work on me was ColourPop Lumiere and I purchased it mostly to support KathleenLights. Whenever I wore it I got some many compliments. Then I posted a comment about a brown based lip and Christine encouraged me to try it and that coupled with my daughter telling me she thought it would look beautiful on me, I purchased a couple of shades and the rest, as they say, is history. I still don’t wear any way out there (or what would be considered way out there in my little town) shades, although I can love and appreciate them on others.
The other day my daughter and I went to have dinner at the little restaurant in our town and of course, we know all the staff. The young lady helping us is someone we have known for many years. She stopped in the middle of setting up our dinner and said, “You two girls always look so beautiful. Your makeup is flawless and I always think it is great that you take the trouble to put on makeup all the time.” My daughter and I sort of laughed and replied, “If you only knew how many times we put on makeup and don’t even leave the house!” I was mostly flattered that she called me a “girl” , LOL.
The biggest thing for me was figuring out that what I thought of as pink was not actually pink, it was rose/mauve. I can wear cooler toned pinks, but they have to be brighter rather than lighter. And sorting out a nude was near impossible for along time because 90% of lipsticks labelled nude were beige or brown or peach and they generally look like rubbish on me. I have very rosy lips so I need pinkness as well as warmth otherwise I look washed out.
I find reds quite easy to wear, regardless of undertone but oranges and browns generally make me wary until I can figure out the undertones (yellow/gold = OK, beige/peach = nope). Once I figured that out, which was a long process of trial and error and then some mixing fun with a whole range of OCC lip tars, I got a lot better at picking lip colours that suited me.
I have my absolute go to shades if I get stuck, mostly MLBB but if I’m wearing something with red or pink or orange near my face, I do tend to try and match the main tones with my lipstick. I have a big lipstick stash so I really need to edit it down to make this easier!
With red hair, fair complexion and blue/grey eyes, I have always gravitated to brown/copper, red and berry shades. I have never been a ‘pink’ person, so that lipstick shade was out.
As my lips get dry, I really prefer creme lipsticks and like the glossier effect rather than matte.
It has been trial & error for me also.
I am fair but warm with a yellow undertone, my eyes are a green/gold/brown hazel, my hair is warm
golden blonde.
Yet with all this warmth – warm colors don’t look that good on me. Warm toned lippies & blushes tend to make me look ruddy, sallow, or have no contrast. So cool-toned pinks, mauves, & lavenders are my jam!
I like trying various or better yet should say have worn them all except never a dark brown looks awful on me or gothic, blue, green stuff. Gold or silver but everything else in the rainbow. Two years ago decided to simply experiment with colors and purchased just about every WetnWild shade out there. Still in the process of learning but have learned to rid of a few shades that’ll never suit me. I don’t like hot pink that much but will wear it sometimes. Let’s see…I do love reds but I’m always concerned whetger they are way too bright on me even the best shade cause I’m pale. I think berries suits me much better and lately I’m liking it a lot over reds. I can wear bright tones of any colors i think most look pretty good but no nudes, browns or pale shades. Or too dark like gothic my lips are thin and those make them look even thinner although u tried a few vampy shades and was surprised they didn’t look bad at all. I think bright oranges look rather ok. on me, peaches, blue based reds are the best bet on these thin lips of mine. Mauves I love too! Berries, mauves, plum. Some of these colors will make my hazel greenish eyes immediately pop up for sure. Also warm colors on eyes I love them and am up to my neck on lipsticks and eyeshadows. Blush stash not too far behind drooling for Nars and Hourglass sets! But God only knows how lousy my brain works when I see new pretty makeup and how badly my heart desires! ???♀️ Lol!
I have dark brown wavy hair, cool skinned with pinkish/reddish underneath and hazel eyes.
This thread made me think of a question I’m curious about – not sure if we’ve done this one/lately, but I’m interested in everybody’s answers….: How do you coordinate your eye, lip and cheek looks? w/ examples ( not by name of co, and name of product, but by color and texture and the effect you’re going for, so we can imagine it just by reading your description. What do you think Christine? Temptalia-ites?
As for lip colors – trying and failing. finally getting the general catagories and best textures down, and at last, just in time for my glamorous 60’s :), picking colors that actually flatter most of the time. And Temptalia has honed my eye tremendously for trickier colors, where undertones are subtle. Also am hawk-eyed for any mention of the word “warm” in Christine’s descriptions. Lifesaver!!! Thank you. (and why don’t cosmetic companies do this consistently ?- they definitely have more satisfied customers.
I pick two neighboring areas and use analogous colors. An example would be going with an orange-based eye look and a warm pink or pinkish-coral blush. Or berry lips and a pink-red blush. Generally, when I choose my two areas I leave the third area either very natural looking or literally nude (in the case of my lips). I almost never “do up” my eyes and lips at the same time, but when I do, I go without any face color — these are my more metal or goth-adjacent days.
For me it was trial and error, the fair lip colors don’t work well for me but the bold lip colors do at times I can lighten up but not all the time.
It’s pretty much intuitive-I tend to not be drawn to the warm shades that wouldn’t look good on me.
This is one I have seriously not figured out yet. Honestly, I think my lips look best lightly blurred with foundation, but if I’m forced to consider real color, my best category is probably berry-leaning reds (or vice versa). *IF* that is truly my best color range, I arrived at that purely through trial and error. However … a part of me is convinced that the absolute best color for my lips would be a very specific shade of warm pale mauve-y taupe that is basically my actual lip color, but I can’t find that magical color in the real world.