I love a red lip. No, scratch that, I LOVE a red lip. And I'm always looking for an eye look to go with it. It's perfect with a cat eye, I know, and that's how I often wear it but sometimes, I want something softer and lighter. I've never been able to find a tutorial online that fits what I'm looking for. Most of the "soft" eye looks I've found online to pair with a bold lip are A LOT of look. I feel that wearing a lot of makeup can look heavy and age you and sometimes like you're not trying a little too hard.
So I came up with this look - a soft, sparkly eye to pair with a red lip and soft, glowing skin. It's glamorous in a subtle way, simple and elegant and modern. Anyone can wear this look.
I feel that when you wear a red lip, you should play down your eyes and your cheeks. The red lip should be the focus.
Here's what I did.
First I applied primer to my clean, moisturized skin, under my eyes and onto my eyelids. I let that set and then applied Sleek BB cream mixed with MAC Lustre Drops in Pink Rebel to my skin with my Beauty Blender, starting at the centre of my face and blending out. I applied MAC Pro Longwear Concealer to my undereyes with the pointed end of the Beauty Blender, concentrating on the inner half of my undereye area. I used the same concealer around my nostrils, on the always-red area on my right cheek and on any blemishes and red areas the BB cream hadn't covered. I wanted my skin to be as flawless as possible. To set it, I applied a light layer of loose powder (a mix of Pari Mineral Glow and Ben Nye Neutral Set) with a my MAC 165 brush. I set the concealer under my eyes by pressing the still-damp Beauty Blender into some loose powder and pressing it to my undereye area. Applying the concealer and the powder on top with the Beauty Blender helps to keep it from creasing.
Next I worked on shaping and filling in my brows. I used Make Up For Ever's Aqua Brow in 20 and my Make Up For Ever 274 brush to both comb through and fill in my brows. Since my hair was going to be a little crazy and wild, I wanted my brows to match. So they're not perfect.
Onto the eyes. I used only three eyeshadows. First I applied MAC Skintone 2 (a muted almost neutral gold) to my entire eyelid with my Merle Norman Eye Shader brush. Next, for a bit of definition, I swept MAC Wedge along my crease, blending it out, reapplying and blending some more. Since I wanted a bit more sparkle, I tapped a bit of MAC Pigment in Gold Mine (metallic champagne) to the very center of my eyelid. I curled my lashes with my Shu Uemera eyelash curler and applied lots and lots of Smashbox Full Exposure mascara to my top lashes. To my bottom lashes, I applied Clinique Lower Lash Mascara. This was for the super-sparkley effect I wanted. And that's it. No eyeliner at all. My eyes are defined, sparkly and soft.
*If your skin is a different shade than mine, you can use a shimmery shades that are very close to your own skintone. I chose light golds because they add shimmer and light to my skin. The crease shade should be slightly darker than your skintone, to add a slight definition.
I wanted to sculpt my face softly, so I applied the Illamasqua Sculpting Powder Duo to my cheeks, sweeping the contour shade (Heliopolis) below my cheekbones and along my jawline. I applied MAC Semi Precious Rose Quartz Mineralize Skinfinish to my cheeks as a shimmery blush and the highlighter shade (Lumos) from the Sculpting Powder Duo to the tops of my cheekbones.
What's left? Oh right! The red lips! Without the red lips, this would be a very pretty, very polished, very soft and glowy make-up look. Maybe a touch too much for day, but for an understated evening look, it'd be perfect. But that's not why we're here.
My lip colour is OCC Lip Tar in Vintage. It's reading as quite cherry-red here, but it's actually deeper than that. Like red wine. I applied it with the mini lip brush it came with.
As a final step, I dusted my face with Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Diffused Light.
This is a really easy look to wear. The red lips will need some touching up in front of a mirror, but if you choose a long-lasting formula, like OCC Lip Tar. This would also work with a bright pink lip, a deep purple lip or a rich brown lip. The eyes and cheeks are neutral enough that it would work on both warm and cool skintones and on most skin colours.
I love how much light this look brings to my face and how my skin, cheekbones, brows and eyes are enhanced but the lips are what stands out. It's such a flattering, sophisticated, youthful look.
Hopefully this helps anyone else like me who's looking for a subtle look to pair with a red lip!
C.
