Choosing Color for Your Look
Undertones, testing shades in daylight, and how to pick a red like the LipX winners.
The right shade does more for your lips than any technique. Here's how to choose honestly.
1. Know your undertone
- Veins look blue/purple → cool undertone: blue-based reds, berries, pinks.
- Veins look green → warm undertone: orange-reds, corals, warm nudes.
- Can't tell → neutral: you can wear most shades. Lucky.
2. Picking a red like the winners
- The Reddest leaderboard winners share one trait: a red matched to undertone, applied over liner.
- Test in daylight, not store lighting. Blot once, then decide — blotted red is the real red.
3. Nudes that don't wash you out
- Go one shade deeper than your natural lip color. Lighter than your lips = concealer mouth.
4. Make any shade last
- Liner base, one coat, blot with tissue, light dust of translucent powder through the tissue, second coat.
The honest takeaway: undertone matching is 80% of a great lip color. The rest is application.