How To Wear Pink Lipstick

How To Wear Pink Lipstick

I’ve always been one to love a pop of color on my lips to add an extra touch to an outfit.  Ever since I started wearing makeup, experimenting with different lip colors has been one of my absolute favorite things to do!  

To be totally honest, though, I think pink can be a tricky color to get right.  If you’re not careful, sometimes it can come off a little 80’s, know what I mean? But don’t worry about it, girl, I got you!  I want to share all of my tips and tricks for pulling off pink lipstick and making it something you feel comfortable rocking anywhere.  

How To Wear Pink Lipstick:

There are a few things I like to take into consideration when testing out a pink lip.  First of those being skin tone and what shades will complement your tone and complexion.  Once we’ve nailed down the right shade and hue for you, perfecting the whole makeup around your pink lip so that the pink can really pop is important.  Finally, I’ll give a few tips on outfits I like to wear with pink lips and tips for rocking it with full confidence.

Choosing The Right Shade for Your Skintone

Step number one is going to be deciphering what your skin undertone is.  When we’re talking skin undertones, there are three categories that we are looking for: warm, cool, and neutral.  One of my favorite ways to determine this is to take a look at your wrist and the veins beneath your skin. Make sure that you are performing this test without any self-tanner on your wrists, that may skew your results.

• If your veins look more green, you likely have a WARM undertone.
  • Common qualities of those with WARM undertones are olive, darker complected skin. Typically warm undertones will not have difficulty tanning from the sun and may have darker body hair.
• If your veins look more blue, you likely have a COOL undertone.
  • Common qualities of those with COOL undertones are pink, fair skin.  Typically cool undertones will burn in the sun and may have freckles and/or light body hair.
• If it’s difficult to tell if they are more green or blue, you likely have a NEUTRAL undertone.
  • Common qualities of those with NEUTRAL undertones are a mix of the above two categories.

Once you’ve determined your undertone, now we can narrow down an undertone to look for in pink lipsticks for you!  Typically you’re going to want to look for pink shades in the same undertone as your skin. For example, if you have a warm undertone, you’re going to want to look for pink shades with warm undertones. 

Because there are literally thousands of pink colors, I’ll list a few of my favorites for each undertone here:

• Warm Pink Shades (typically have more orange or yellow in them): clean pinks, yellow pinks, peach, warm fuchsia, rosy-tinted pink, pinky coral, hot pink, Pink-beiges
• Cool Pink Shades (typically have more blue or purple in them): Mauve, cool fuschias, blue pinks
• Neutral Pink Shades (typically fall in the middle): Midtone pinks, creamy fuschias, Neon pink, Dusty rose

Final step is to consider the depth of your skin.  If you are on the light end of your skin tone, too light of shades can tend to wash you out.  If you are the darker end of your skin tone, too dark of colors may not register. Here’s what I’d recommend for your skin depth:

• Fair/light Skin Tones In Any Undertone (Words to look for in your lipstick): Bright, Deep
• Midlevel Skin Tones In Any Undertone (Words to look for in your lipstick): Light, Soft, Muted, Bright, Deep, Dirty or Dusty, Nude
• Dark Skin Tones In Any Undertone (Words to look for in your lipstick): Light, Soft, Bright, Clean, Neon, Nude

Keep in mind that this is just a starting point! I love to try lots of different shades and figure out what I love and don’t love on my skin tone.  You’ll get there, just give it time.

Makeup To Pair With Pink Lipstick

I love to experiment with makeup and I think it is SO individual that putting too many “rules” or guidelines around it can sometimes limit your creativity.  Always have fun with makeup and do what makes you feel confident! Here are a few tips, though, that I like to keep in mind when rocking a pink lip:

1. If you’re rocking a bright lip, try to keep them the star of the show.  In other words, keep your eye and face makeup muted and neutral. This prevents anything from looking too “done up” or 80’s.  Remember the blue eyeshadow with the pink lips? I try to avoid that, lol.
2. Accentuate your eyebrows.  I don’t know what it is, ladies, but there is something about fluffy brows and pink lips.  It is so feminine and romantic. One of my favorite features to accentate when wearing pink lipstick.
3. ALWAYS use a liner.  Nothing ruins a gorgeous lip shade more than bleeding and feathering.  I love to use a lipliner every time I apply lipstick, even if it’s a muted or light shade, just to make sure it looks crisp and clean.

Outfits I Love with Pink Lipstick

More than any jacket or accessory you could rock with a pink lip, the most important thing is CONFIDENCE.  If you are confident and feeling like your best self, whatever you wear will look stunning. I promise!

With that being said, I typically like to consider the depth of the pink lipstick when putting my outfit together.  If I’m rocking something bright or neon, I’ll usually be wearing an outfit composed of neturals (whites, creams, browns, and black).  Mid-tone and light/nude pinks are so versatile and can be worn with just about anything!

My Top Pink Lipsticks

MAC Lipstick in Creme Cup

Lawless Lipstick in Parker

Charlotte Tillbury in Pillow Talk

Tarte Lipstick in Pink Sands

Buxom Full-On Plumping Lip Polish

Pink lipstick is something that anyone and everyone can pull off and I hope that these tips helped you narrow down a shade that you will not want to stop wearing!  Looking for a full face of makeup with a pink lip tutorial? I’ve got one for you right here. If you use any of these tips, tag me in your post so that I can check you out, girl!