Mean Reds

Delicate ear piercings, low maintenance yet super feminine hair, and rich red lips that catch the eye and work perfectly against the tones of skin and hair, but are still somehow understated. I'm really feeling this look right now. 

I think essentially though, that it's the lips that really caught my eye with these images. 

While I usually add a quick dab of lipstick before I leave the house in the morning as part of my routine, to feel more 'finished' and ready to face the day, it's usually a shade almost identical to the actual colour of my lips (MAC Velvet Teddy or Chanel Rouge Coco in Cashmere), really just a natural boost - an enhancing hint of a hue and a flash of conditioning. 

Just for interest's sake - Coco Chanel once said, "I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little - if only out of politeness. And then, you never know, maybe that's the day she has a date with destiny. And it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny."

Sadly though I suspect my efforts have already all but vanished by the time I get to work 45 minutes later (a symptom of London rush-hour Tube anxiety syndrome) and I generally don't give it much thought again until perhaps after lunch or more likely the end of the day, when I'm unleashed into fresh situations that might require a minor re-invigoration of face and soul. (So hopefully destiny will either catch me just outside my apartment block in the morning, or wait until I've left work...)

Every so often though, a girl just wants to wear red lipstick.

I've had a tube of MAC's cult lipstick Ruby Woo in my possession for a while now, and it does seem to be everything people say - it suits almost any skin tone, you can eat a steak and it won't move or fade etc etc, but on fair skin especially, it is still quite bold. It looks absolutely stunning on Maya Thomas, self-professed modern gypsy, though I harbour doubts that anything would look bad on that face.

Siddhartha Bekers' skin tone and hair are very similar to mine, which means I'm pretty sure I could also pull off the vivid cherry-red shade she's wearing (NARS Terre de Feu). So this is going somewhere near the top of my must-have list. I'll let you know how it turns out.

x

Photos via Into The Gloss