FOTD: How to wear a bold pink lip

Inspired by Lily Allen on the cover of Q Magazine's Artists of the Century (you can see the full cover here), where she's slouchily sitting in dark jeans, a black tank and black stiletto boots, hair in her eyes, poutily looking up at the camera with a fabulous fuchsia lip colour and little else on her face. This is one of my favourite looks so I wanted to show you how you can wear a bold pink lip.

It's such a simple, sophisticated, edgy, youthful look and stands outs amid all the smoky eyes and retro red or glossy lips. It's very pop, very new wave, very early 80s, very electric but the way it's being worn today, as on Lily, is very modern.

So here, are three ways you can wear a bold pink (or coral, or orange, or purple) lip. You want to keep the rest of your make-up simple, very simple. Base, a touch of very natural blush, clear, glowy skin and a very basic eye make-up such as the three below. The lipstick colour I'm wearing in all three looks is MAC's Girl About Town.

Soft and sparkly. I wore this look going to see The Big Pink at Lee's Palace.

For this soft and sparkly look I applied Gosh eyeshadow in 14 Grey Brown - a taupey-silver - quite heavily from my lashline up just past my crease. It's a sheer colour so even with a few layers it doesn't look like much, but that's what I wanted, just a hint of colour and lots of shimmer. I wanted to have a lash-heavy look so using an angle brush, I smudged JoeFresh Midnight eyeshadow - a dark, sparkly grey - along my upper lashes. I applied JoeFresh mascara in black, heavily, for a dramatic look. I then lined my lower lashes with Gosh Sparkling Pearl eye pencil - a soft yellow-gold - to emphasize my lower lashes and to make my eyes sparkle a little more. Blush is a tiny bit of Strada under my cheekbones and Benefit High Beam as a highlighter along my brown bone and the tops of my cheekbones.

14 Grey Brown

Sparking Pearl

High Beam

Liquid liner (a la Lily):

Here's a FOTD based on what I'm guessing Lily is wearing on the cover of Q Magazine. It's a very basic black slightly winged eyeliner and soft blush. I used MAC Paint Pot in Bare Study on my lids and then lined my lash line with MAC Blacktrack and an angle brush. Cheeks are a layering of JoeFresh Pink Rose cheektint and MAC powder blush in Fleur Power. Mascara is Bare Escentuals Buxom.

Bare Study

Blacktrack

Pink Rose

Fleur Power 

Silvery eye:

This silvery eye isn't so different from the Soft and Sparkly Eye above, it's simply a touch smokier and uses greys and silvers rather than soft beiges and vanilla colours. This look was more dramatic in person than it appears in the photos.

How I got this look was by softly lining my waterline with a black eye pencil and smudging it out into my lashline and slightly onto my eye lids, blending it out. I topped the smudged pencil line on my upper lid with MAC Smut and a tiny bit of MAC Carbon for more depth. I used BE Drama all over my lids to just above my crease and used JoeFresh Midnight on the outer half of my lids. I applied Benefit High Beam to my browbone and blended it down onto my cheekbones for highlight. Blush is minimal, a touch of whatever was still on my blush brush (likely MAC Strada and MAC Fleur Power). I applied multiple coats of BE Buxom Lash mascara on my top lashes and two coats on my lower lashes, as this is was a going-out look and combed through with a lash comb to get rid of clumps.

Drama

Midnight

Smut

 Carbon

*You could go heavier with the liner and the black around your eyes for a more dramatic look, particularly if you've got darker skin than I do. Try not to go overboard because this look can easily become "80s rocker" - unless of course, that's what you want!

C.