Perfect nude is a myth but it still does not stop us from hankering for it. There is nothing perfect about wearing a lipstick the same color of your skin, you really don’t want people to find it difficult to locate your mouth.
Nude is relative. When it comes to nude, there’s no copycat. These days, one woman’s nude is another woman’s beige, caramel, brown, pink, peach and even, rather curiously, a mauve or pale orange. A nude is simply a shade that is muted, understated and resembles, in a perfect world, what you’d want your natural lips to look like, on that day at least.
Haven said all that, here are ways to choose the perfect or almost perfect nude lipstick for really dark skinned divas.
1. The original colour of your lips is everything
Many black women have lips that are deeply pigmented, or even two different colours; dark brown on top, pink at the bottom. This could completely alters the tone of your choice of lipstick.
However, you needn’t go to the trouble of finding two separate hues to compensate. If you want to lighten, darken or even out your lip shade, try blending some concealer or foundation over your lips before lipstick application. This neutralises the tones, leaving an even canvas to work on.”
Many nudes on the market can be too pink for darker skin tones. Using concealer, foundation or powder on your lips before you apply your lipstick acts as a base to give your lips a lift and a more natural finish.
2. Trail and error
One way to get the best nude lipstick is trial and error. Don’t be scared of buying some lipstick – You could give it out or resell if it doesn’t fit. The real key to getting the perfect nude lipstick for your skin tone is to try them on.
So experts will tell you stuff like: “your choice of nude lipstick should be based on whether you have blue, yellow or red undertones.” Really? How many people know their undertones.
Also, testing the lipsticks on your arm can’t give you 100% guarantee. Just buy them, take them home, and try them on your lips.
3. Can you use lighter shades?
Of course girl, you can! You can go light. The key is to get that perfect nude is to get a good and balanced base using concealers, powder, foundation or lip pencil.
To prevent any ashiness, try to draw your lip pencil all over your lips ( the colour of lip pencil depends on whether you want to lighten your lips or darken it) and then apply your lipstick on top.
The lip pencil base will intensify your lipstick colour and also balance your natural lip shade
4. Balance is key
Nude lips against dark skin will look out of sync, stark and – well – a bit too nude if the rest of the face is devoid of make-up. Definition of some sort is necessary, be it a winged eye or strong brows.
Regardless of skin tone, you need a face-lift to balance a nude lipstick.
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