I have never really worn lipstick. In my mind, it just hasn’t suited me – I have a very thin top lip and and a very fat bottom lip and overall my mouth is very lop-sided. I could happily go on being self-critical, but I won’t! I also think part of the problem is I was trying the wrong colours – brown was very much the fashion in the ’90s when I was playing around with make-up, and although I never really thought lipstick fashions were a thing, I have noticed that brown lipsticks are back….
I have also got completely the wrong skin-tone for brown. My sister collaborates with a lady who does colour analysis , which has got everyone in the family thinking about colours that suit them. I definitely have a cool skin-tone, (varying between summer and winter in my opinion) and therefore thought I should try pinks and reds that have a cool-look to them. Now before watching You Tube videos, I had no idea that what seem like quite bright pink lipsticks, actually look very subtle when worn. I never would have picked up a pink lipstick (to be fair I would never have picked up any 
lipstick) before, but I actually think this is my best bet. This is the joy of beauty channels on You Tube. You can basically see what anything will look like on someone else first before you spend the money!
I don’t want to draw attention to my mouth (for reasons stated above) (and I have honestly only just realised how contradictory that must sound when I have three stainless steel rings through half of it), but lipstick really does finish off a look and make it more professional and polished, so when I do go for a full face of make-up, I don’t really want to leave it out. However I’m still struggling to get used to it.
I do like a dark red. I like the dramatic, sometimes gothic feel of it. If I’m doing an Oshun photoshoot and only need to pout, I think I can get away with it. It’s if I ever need to smile, things go rather strange!
I actually only own four lipsticks and they’re all by Victoria Jackson. I was talked into buying a make-up bundle from a stall in a service station of all places! This was about five years ago by the way. As I never wore lipstick, I was actually going to give the lipstick set away, but recently I opened them up myself to give them a go. I have owned a few other lipsticks in the past, but I couldn’t find them when it came to taking photos for this blog post. That’s not quite true – I did find a dark red – but I have a feeling it was possibly my Mum’s or even my Nan’s. I also found a pale brown one that had sort-of shrivelled up from the outside in. I thought neither were particularly healthy so left them alone. (I’ve got a make-up declutter video planned, so once that’s filmed, they will go in the bin, don’t worry!) Anyway, these Victoria Jackson lipsticks seem fine, but as 
I haven’t got a lot of experience or comparisons, that’s as far as this beauty review will go!
I haven’t been living completely in a beauty excluded cave – I am well aware of these (relatively) new matte lip glosses (a contradiction in terms if you ask me and took me a while to work out what they actually were!), whenever I’ve swatched a tester on the back of my hand, the consistency and texture has left me not wanting to put it on my mouth.
AND THEN whilst browsing Boots at Christmas, I found the No7 matte lip crayon. This is like a revelation to me! I absolutely love it – it applies so smoothly and has a lovely matte finish. Back in the olden days I used to have to matte down lipstick with powder. Sadly there are only four shades and Raspberry Wine was the only one I liked the look of. However, at least I know to look out for other brand lip crayons in the future. It has the advantage of not needing a separate lip liner, so I can try and even out my wonky mouth a little. It’s also easier to slip it under and behind my lip-rings so I’m very pleased I made this discovery!
To be honest, I’m still not convinced I look good with lip colour, but I haven’t given up on it yet!
So anyway, I really do recommend trying lip crayons if you haven’t already, and particularly if you have lip piercings to negotiate! This is the one I’m wearing in this picture:
And the one I think I’ll try next:
You may also like to read my post called, Is It Time To Start Making An Effort?
