For those of you who have your finger on the pulse, this will be old news. For those of you who don’t, here it is: lipgloss is in beauty Siberia. I can’t say I’m altogether sad at this development – while lipgloss made lips look wonderfully inflated, it also sticks to hair/teeth/men’s lips something chronic. Besides, a slick of lipstick is a timeless, chic way to adorn lips.
Me wearing Clinique’s Long Lasting Soft Matte Lipstick in Matte Petal
If you’d like to take adherence to trends a step further, ditch your glossy lipstick for a matte version. I’m not for one minute suggesting that you scratch a ghastly drying paste onto your lips. Heavens no. Get your hands on the newest matte formulas instead – they all inject moisturising spheres into their formulas without adding any shine. My favourites? Three:
Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencils in (left to right): Paimpol, Red Square, Belle de Jour and Dolce Vita
– Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencils, £18 here / A lipstick and liner in one, these bullets make applying lipstick a breeze. The wide range of colours available is impressive and, as with all Nars products, offer serious colour pay-off. I only needed to top my lips up with Red Square once during an evening out.
Soap & Glory Super Colour Fabulipstick Powdercoat Matte Lipstick in Supernude
Soap & Glory Super Colour Fabulipstick Powdercoat Matte Lipsticks, £9 here. / I fell for this lipstick for two reasons: it didn’t dry my lips and the below shade is the perfect nude. Also, it smells like vanilla. And is a bargain £9. What’s not to love?
Clinique’s new Soft Matte Long Last Lipsticks, £18 here / 8 bold, bright shades that are proper lipsticks – not a stain, not a matte wash of colour. Extremely comfortable and look velvety, not dry on.
Note: Before application, do away with dryness with a light exfoliation – you can either roll a cotton pad coated in lip balm across lips, use a soft toothbrush to buff, or employ a lip exfoliant.