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How to Choose the Best Lipstick Colors and Shades

In this article on lipsticks colors and shades, we are going to dwell much on how to choose lipstick color for different body features such as hair and skin. Some of the features we are going to mention include brunettes, dark skin, fair skin, blondes, black women, medium skin, tan skin, olive and brown skin tones.

How to choose lipstick color

Best Lipstick Colors and Shades  for Fair, Black, Tan, Brunette, Blondes, Black Women, Dark Skin, Medium
Best Lipstick Colors and Shades

When choosing lipsticks that will flatter your looks, ensure you test the color before buying it. Ensure it will compliment your skin tone, hair color well as well as match well with the costume or attires you will be wearing. You should also decide on the looks you want to get such as drama, bold, subtle and the occasion you will be wearing the lipstick.

Lipstick colors for Brunettes and Top Brands 

Which lipstick colors will best flatter brunettes? This is a difficult question since being brunette only shows your hair color. You need to consider your hair color but never forget your skin color too. Furthermore, consider what is dominant between your hair color and skin tone. While looking at the best lipstick colors for brunettes, we will consider the various skin color and hair shade.

Brunettes with olive skin – go for mauve, dusky rose or even plums, as they will flatter your olive skin color. Stay away from too bright lipstick colors if your olive skin complexion is tends towards dark.

Brunettes with light brown hair – Brunettes with light brown hair should go for peaches and apricot. Ensure you go for glossy finishes or use lip glosses if you went for matte finishes. However, if you are fair skinned and you freckle often, go for rust, cinnamon or pink lipsticks. Avoid too orange hues.

Lipstick colors for brunettes
Lipstick colors for brunettes

Brunettes with dark brown hair – if you have dark brown hair, some of the best lipsticks that will flatter your looks include red, pink and coral. You can go for either matte finishes or glossy finish depending on if you want to make your lips to appear bigger or not.

Lipstick Colors for Blondes 

Blonde girls need to know how correctly to wear lipstick for the most flattering looks. Of course, just as in the case of brunettes, their skin tone will affect their lipstick choice. Generally, the best lipstick colors for blondes should be about two shades or one shade lighter than their natural lip colors.

Lipstick Colors and Shades - Best Lipsticks for Blondes
Lipstick Colors and Shades – Best Lipsticks for Blondes

Best Lipstick for Fair Skinned Blonds – They should wear apricot, pink or corals.

Best Lipstick for Olive Skinned Blondes – If you are an olive skinned blonde, you should go for rust, dark peach and light brown lipstick colors and shades.

Blondes with Lightest Hair – The best lipstick colors for blondes with the lightest hair color include cranberry, mauve and pomegranate lipstick colors.

Rich Golden Haired Blondes – Blondes who have rich gold hair should go for corals, peaches or apricot. However, they should avoid strong colors and wear highly glossy lipsticks.

If they want to wear red lipsticks, they do look good on blondes but they must be worn carefully not to overwhelm their looks. Wearing true reds with brown or blue undertones is a good idea. Some good reds to try include NARS – Heat Wave and Revlon Colorburst – True Red

Other brands that will flatter blondes include purples such as the Giorgio Armani Rouge D’Armani – Black Lacquer 602 and Lancôme Rouge in love – Violette Coquette, fruit color such as Shiseido lipstick – Sizzle and MAC – Vegas Volt as well as nude colors such as Lancôme Rouge in Love – Lasting kiss 200B and Illamasqua – Soft Pink Chocolate,

Lipstick for Black Women – Lipstick Colors for African Americans

Lipstick for Black Women
Lipstick for Black Women

If you are a black woman or an African American woman, you need to know which lipsticks will flatter or compliment your skin tone. Some of these best lipsticks for black women are the same as the ones for dark skinned people since most of the black women are dark skinned.

While looking at the best lipsticks for black women, we will not mention specific brands but give you categories of lipstick colors and shades they can wear. You can use this shades and colors in determining what will best flatter you looks.

Dark Lipsticks – Some of the best dark lipstick colors and shades for black women include deep red, magenta, chocolate brown, bronze and fuchsia.

Medium Color Lipsticks – If you happen to have a medium skin tone, some of the best lipstick colors you should consider going for include red, bronze, magenta, medium brown, deep brown, and medium deep pink.

Light Lipsticks – If you want something a little light, consider going for taupe, red, peach, pale to deeper pink lipsticks. These will flatter black women with a light skin tone.

To get more lipstick colors that will be idea for black women, see some of the below brands that dark skinned women can wear if you have a dark skin. Otherwise, you could go for the ones of medium skin, olive or tan if this is your skin tone.

Lipstick Color for Dark Skin Tone – Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands

Lipstick Color for Dark Skin Tone
Lipstick Color for Dark Skin Tone

If you have a dark skin tone, you are expected to stay away from peaches and corals. Instead, go for reds, browns, chocolate, soft sheer pinks, beige shade, deep plumps, dark red, deep berries, grapes and pink lipsticks.

If you have purple or blue undertones, you should go for glossy lipstick that is much lighter than your skin complexion but it should have a violet touch. On the other hand, if you have warmer skin toner, go for maroon or brown lipsticks. Pair up this warm lipsticks with rose orange blush.

  • Clinique Almost in Black Honey
  • MAC’s Ruby Woo
  • Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Suede Lipstick in Socialite
  • MAC Viva Glam Cyndi Lauper
  • L’Oréal Colour Riche Lipcolour in Sunset Red
  • Bobbi Brown Lip Color in Burnt Red
  • NARS Sheer Lipstick in Gipsy

The best lipsticks for dark skin tone are endless. You have already gotten insight from best lipstick colors for dark skin discussed above and it should help you choose a perfect lipstick for your dark skin.

Lipsticks for Medium Skin tones – Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands

Lipsticks for Medium Skin tones
Lipsticks for Medium Skin tones

If you have a medium skin tone, you can wear most of the lipstick colors. However, wearing corals, light pink, roses, berries, mauves, or peach lipstick colors, will be ideal during the day and at night, you should go for medium red, brown or pink.

  • Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Suede Lipstick in Finale
  • Dior Rouge Dior Lipcolor in Rare Amber
  • Mirabella Lip Colour in Amaretto
  • L’Oréal Paris Infallible Never Fail Lipstick in Amber
  • Mary Kay Crème Lipstick in Amber Glow
  • Nars in Tanganyka

Lipstick Colors for Tan Skin Tones – Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands

Lipstick Colors for Tan Skin Tones
Lipstick Colors for Tan Skin Tones

If you have tan skin, you need to know some of the best lipstick colors and shades to go for. Most of the people from Latin America tend to have tan skin tone.

For such people some of the best lipstick color or best lipstick shades to go for include shades based on purple like berry. Furthermore, most of the brown lipstick shades will look awesome, ranging from light brown to dark brown.Just to give you a few of the best lipsticks for tan color, consider going for the following brands:

  • Dolce & Gabbana Classic Cream Lipstick in Fire
  • Nars blush in Super Orgasm
  • Rimmel London Natural Bronzer
  • Maybelline Color Sensational Vivids in Electric Orange

If you have a tan skin, you could also wear any of the good nude lipsticks we are going to discuss later in this discussion.

Best Lipstick Color for Fair Skin – Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands

If you have a fair skin tone, you should always go for lighter lipstick shades especially light pink, apricot, peach, coral pink, light browns, beige, pinks with brown undertones, deep pinks, berries, orange, red with purple undertones, and light coral. Some of the general good lipstick colors and shades for fair skin include:

  • Nars Lip Gloss in Turkish Delight
  • NARS Cruising
  • Lancome Color Design Infinite 24H shadow in Timeless Taupe
  • MAC Lipstick in Candy Yum-Yum
  • NARS gloss in Female Trouble
  • B.S.N’s Stained Pink
  •  Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Suede Lipstick  in Cruise Collection
  • Givenchy “Rose Caprice”
  • Revlon’s matte lipstick in Fabulous Fig
  • NYC Color’s Berry Rich
  • NYC Color’s Retro Red
Best Lipstick Color for Fair Skin – Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands
Best Lipstick Color for Fair Skin – Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands

The list of lipsticks for fair skin is endless as they can wear almost any lipstick including red just as Gwen Stefani does. They can wear red, which has mild cherry undertones or red lipsticks that have cherry undertones. Generally, matte red lipsticks tend to look better than glossy. Fire engine red lipstick might not work well.

Finally, on best lipsticks colors for fair skin ensure you do not go for too pale or dark since they can make you look washed-out.

Lipstick Color for Olive Skin – Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands

Lipstick Color for Olive Skin – Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands
Lipstick Color for Olive Skin – Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands

If you have olive skin, it means you have a skin color that ranges from medium brown to a color, a little bit dark when compared to wheatish. Since this skin is neither too dark nor fair, people with this skin tone can wear a number of lipstick colors without any problem. Some of the great lipstick colors they should go for include:

Red Lipsticks – Go for red lipsticks with warm undertones. Vampy and deep red will still look great since they both have a blue base.

  • Elizabeth Arden Color Intrigue Effects Lipstick in Poppy Cream
  • Kat Von D Painted Love in Underage Red
  • Lancôme Color Design Sensational Effects Lipcolor in Retro Rouge
  • Nars Lipstick in Shanghai Express
  • Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited Crème Matte Lipstick in RD 165M

Berry Lipsticks – Go for berry lipstick that will include wine, berry, raisin and plum. If you have warm skin tones, magenta and copper will also be very flattering. Some of the good black berry lipsticks to wear include:

  • Chanel Rouge Allure Luminous Satin Lip Colour in Émotive
  • Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in Cranberry Cream
  • Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in Raspberry Rush
  • L’Oréal Paris Colour Riche Lipcolour in Mica
  • Revlon’s Colorburst lipstick in Plum

    Best Lipsticks for Black Women - Nude Brick Lipstick
    Best Lipsticks for Black Women – Nude Brick Lipstick

Nude Lipsticks – If your olive skin tone is slightly darker, go for nude shades and taupe. Furthermore, wearing matte lipstick shades of chestnut, almond and nutmeg will be quite flattering. See more on nude lipsticks below.

Pink Lipsticks – Go for pink lipsticks that have warm or yellow undertones  and avoid any pink lipstick that have blue undertones. Rose pink, orange pink, and dusty pink will look hilarious on girls who have olive skin color.  Try pink lipsticks such as:

  • Dior DiorAddict Lipcolor in Hollywood Rose
  • Dolce & Gabbana The Lipstick in Venere
  • Maybelline New York Color Sensational Lipcolor in Born With It
  • Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick in Fuchsia
  • Elizabeth Arden Color Intrigue Effects Lipstick

Lipstick Colors for Brown Skin – Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands

Lipstick Colors for Brown Skin - Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands
Lipstick Colors for Brown Skin – Best Lipstick Colors, Shades and Top Brands

People who have brown skin will look great in most types of lipsticks. However, lipsticks with warm orange and yellow tones will be most flattering. On lipsticks to avoid (colors and shades), people who have brown skin should not wear are those that are too pink or blue as they might make your brown skin tone to look a bit washed-out.

One of the flattering lipsticks for brown skin you should never fail to try is the red lipstick color especially the rich red, deep red, dark berry, and reddish dark brown. If you particularly went for sheer instead of matte red lipstick, you will look amazing.

In addition, browns with red, chocolate or mahogany undertones will look great. Even coral lipstick colors will look great on people who have brown skin colors.

Best Neutral Lipstick Colors and Top Brands 

Neutral Lipstick Colors
Neutral Lipstick Colors

Neutral lipstick colors are some of the common lipstick colors that most people wear during the day. These include colors such as taupe, black, ivory, gray, white, beige, etc. which normally appear as if they do not have color.

When you wear neutral lipsticks, they do not make things to pop up. Instead, they give subtle looks. If they are chosen well to suit your hair color and skin tone, they are ideal for giving subtle and natural looks, ideal for daytime.

Of course, this is without forgetting black lipsticks, begin netural, need to be worn with care see more on black lipsticks, best brands, how to wear it and much more.

If you are looking for the best neutral lipsticks, you can go for many leading and best neutral lipsticks. Some of these best brands include the following:

  • Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Soft Nude
  • Wet & Wild Matte Lipstick in 902C
  • Wet & Wild Lipstick in 547B
  • NYX Round Lipstick in Ceto
  • ELF Mineral Lipstick in Nicely Nude
  • Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Blush
  • Shiseido Makeup Perfect Rouge Lipstick in BE333
  • Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Dusty Rose
  • MAC Lipstick in Viva Glam V
  • Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Sunset (dupe of Viva Glam V)
  • L’oreal Colour Riche Lipstick in Eva’s Caramel KohGenDo Maifanshi Lipstick in Pink Beige
  • Fresh Sugar Honey Tinted Lip Treatment SPF 15
  • NARS Sheer Lipstick in Cruising
  • Tom Ford Lip Color in Spanish Pink
  • Burberry Beauty Lip Cover Soft Satin Lipstick in Nude Rose
  • Rimmel London Lasting Finish by Kate Lipstick in 14
  • Revlon Matte Lipstick – Nude Attitude
  • Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Canotier
  • Dior Rouge Dior Lip Color in Angelique Beige
  • Tom Ford Lip Color in Sable Smoke
  • Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupté lipstick in Nude Beige
  • NARS Satin Lipstick in Honolulu Honey
  • Dior Rouge Dior Lip Color in Beige Indecise
  • Tom Ford Lip Color in Blush Nude
  • Chanel Rouge Allure Luminous Satin Lip Colour in Confidentielle
  • Nars Lipstick in Belle de Jour

These are not the only best neutral lipsticks you can wear. There are many others to go for depending if you have a fair, tan, dark, olive or medium skin tone.

How to Get Discontinued Lipstick Colors

Lipstick Color and Shades
Lipstick Color and Shades – Summary

Due to a number of reasons, it is normal to get a few discontinued lipsticks from different companies including Revlon, NARS, Maybelline, Avon, elf, NYX, MAC, L’Oreal, Rimmel, etc. If your favorite lipstick color has been discontinued, you need to know how to get such a lipstick. We are going briefly to discuss on how to get discontinued lipstick colors.

The first step for getting a discontinued lipstick is going to eBay and seeing if anyone is selling it. Check prices and compare with other vendors to get the vendor who has the best offer. You will definitely check to see if the seller is also a verified seller.

Use search engine and search for the specific discontinued lipstick to see if anyone has it on offer. Since it has been discontinued, you need to be careful not to buy it at unnecessarily high price, as some vendors might want to take advantage of its high demand.

Check on various websites that auction discontinued lipsticks or products and see if you can see your favorite discontinued lipstick on auction.

Finally, take chance of the last chances offered by the various lipstick manufacturers and buy several pieces of the lipsticks that will be discontinued.

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