Project Pan : Red Lipstick

Have you noticed that women don't really wear red lipstick anymore? I personally find red lipstick to be gorgeous, it completely gives off an effortless glam vibe. I’ve decided to wear red lipstick at least 3x a week for the next four months as a challenge to myself. I work from home so some days I only go to the gym, but for any other occasion that I leave my home I will wear red lipstick (to the library, grocery store, etc). A Project Pan is a challenge to finish makeup/skincare/ haircare products to get your money's worth. I have never finished a tube of lipstick, but I have three dark red lipsticks that I want to put a dent in.

As a result of the pandemic, red lipsticks were sidelined because of mask mandates. Then the trend in beauty shifted with a wave of "clean girl makeup" that has made a lot of bolder and more colorful lips seem less fashionable. I think people also have concerns about maintenance with wearing red lips, such as touch-ups after eating or drinking. But I for one am looking forward to the return of vibrant colors on lips as red lipstick has historically been a symbol of confidence and femininity. If you think you can't wear it, you have to find the right shade that complements your skin tone.

I think red lipstick is classy and brings out your femininity. I do notice it more when it’s the holiday season that I see more red lipstick looks out and about. I've always leaned more towards bold eye color so that's why I wear more nude lip color because you can't wear both bold eye color and red lips, its one or the other. But I always wear red lipstick on vacation because it photographs well. I guess clothing, hair and makeup has been getting more casual over the past 50 years or so but the fact that Taylor Swift wears red lipstick all the time over the last ten years has brought back.

Salma & Rihanna

Red Lipstick Looks Good on Everyone

Red lipstick is very easy to pull off on someone with a high contrast skin tone ie: if you have pale skin, very dark hair - you have a high contrast, think Anne Hathaway. If you have tan skin, red lipstick looks beautiful on you. Red lipstick looks so beautiful on redheads because it balances with the hair color. In 2020 I had a co-worker who had a red hair, and while we worked from home she showed up for zoom meetings everyday with red lipstick and it never looked over done. It was her signature look. Remember all the old Hollywood movie stars of the 1950s and early 1960s only wore red lipstick because it was a more retro glamorous time of a certain type of femininity and it needed to show in B&W film. Cleopatra wore red lipstick made from insects and fish scales. Queen Elizabeth had a custom red lipstick made for her coronation. I recommend reading the book Red Lipstick: An Ode to a Beauty Icon to learn more about its history.

A bold lip looks stunning with silver hair! As you see with Taylor Swift, blondes can rock it too, as long as you have the right shade for your skin tone. A trick to wearing red lipstick though is pairing it with a red sweater, then the two colors balance it each other. Or see the photos below how black sweaters balance the red lips. A blank slate white sweater works as well

The key to wearing red lipstick is finding the right shade for your skin tone. Red lipsticks come in two categories: warm orange tones and cool blue tones.

My best reds are blue-toned reds on the right. And it makes your teeth look more white because cool tones cancel out yellow.

Anytime you present at a conference, guest lecture, community event etc. I recommend wearing a red lipstick. It can be your war paint. Meghan McCain explained this week on instagram that she now does that.

Jessel Tank of RHNY always looks amazing in a red lip

Selecting your pigmentation

Any woman can wear red lipstick, anytime, at any age. Maybe try a less pigmented version for the daytime. The French use a style of applying lipstick with a technique called “La Bouche Mordue” where they only apply lipstick to the middle of their lips then they smudge the lipstick to the edges of their lips with their fingers. So they don't use a lipliner and this creates a blurred look.

Merit Lightweight Satin Lipstick is a sheer lipstick with a satin finish that has the benefits of a lip balm without the heaviness of a traditional lipstick. It feel like your traditional old school bullet lipstick from the 90s. Its a light to light medium coverage, looks like a natural flush on the lips, it can be a little bit sheer, just adds a little bit of brightness.

Color Recommendations

My newest lipstick purchase is NARS Rendez-Vous. It's from their new Explicit line which is a high-end dimensional satin lipstick that delivers long-lasting comfort with vibrant, pure-color payoff and creamy, smudge-resistant wear. I would love to try on the shade Last Night but it's not sold at Sephora, only Nordstrom, so I haven't been out there yet to test it.

NARS Powermatte High-Intensity Long-Lasting Lip Pencil A thick, soft pencil that you can use to either line your lips or use as a matte lipstick. It gives bold, rich pigment that has to 12 hours of staying power. It stays on all day while you eat! It’s so creamy and applies very easily. I have shade All Night Long to go with the Rendez-Vous lipstick.

MAC Ruby Woo is a very matte vivid blue-red and is the most talked about red lipstick! Rihanna had it named after her for awhile. Taylor Swift has worn it. I wore it back it in the day.

Lisa Eldridge Velvet Lipstick

Lisa is a British makeup artist who has a youtube channel. Her makeup is only sold on her website. I have her lipstick in pink and am trying to decide on what shade of red to get, kind of hard when you can't try it on but I'm leaning between Jazz and Duchess. The formula is creamy, highly pigmented, velvet matte lipstick with a slight sheen, for a luscious and three-dimensional finish, with up to 10-hour proven wear. Pick your red!

Ribbon

Jazz

Duchess

Dragon

Enchantment

Maybelline Super Stay Ink Crayon 8-hour matte lip color that glides on crayon. I did a full review of this formula in this post.

My Project Pan

Here are the three dark red lipsticks I have committed to wearing 3x a week for the next four months.

NARS Explicit in Rendez-Vous (Rose Brown) bought in 2024

NARS Audacious in Mona (Mahogany) bought in 2022

NARS Audacious in Olivia ( A deep red with a brown undertone) discontinued. I've almost finished this tube so I'm on the hunt for its replacement since its the perfect dark red for me. I searched my inbox and I bought this in 2016! That's how long it took me to use that much lipstick! No it doesn't have an old lipstick smell but I probably shouldn't use it much longer. lol

I always pack red lipstick for vacation because it photographs well but when I looked through all my photos trying to find one to share, they're all landscape travel photography. This is the only close up I have of myself in a red lippie. This is a scenic Cessna flight over Namibia.