Three Shades of Red, Three Looks

Red is such a classic shade that never goes out of style. You can be bold, glamorous or even a rebel with reds on your lips and nails. I'm a huge fan of reds and because I have a neutral skin tone, I feel like I'm not restricted to wearing just warm or cool toned reds. I prepared a selection of three shades of red worn on the lips and nails so it's a bit matchy-matchy and created three different looks. I included alternatives to all these shades as well, so you'll be seeing a lot of red.

The Bold One

Orange reds are such fun shades and they make me instantly think of summer. I feel as if every time June comes around so many bloggers dig out their Lady Danger lipstick and wear it with pride. I have a little dinky sample of Lady Danger, but for this look I chose to wear Essence's Lip Cream Floral Glam, which is essentially an almost the same shade, but it was unfortunately a LE (Guerrila Gardening). On my nails I'm wearing Depend's nail polish in 036, which matches the lip colour very well. For a lip liner I chose Essence Lipliner in Femme Fatale, which admittedly isn't the best shade for this category, but it's the closest I have to an orange toned liner. 

As I said the quintessential orange red is the super popular Lady Danger, but I find a newer Mac's shade called Dangerous a little bit prettier. For those who don't want to commit to a bold pout, Bourjois' Rouge Edition Shine in 21 Rouge Making Of is a nice sheer option. The most budget choice would be MUA's lipstick in 13 that'll cost you a quid and for those who want a warm red that doesn't have such a strong orange tone try Catrice's Ultimate Colour Lipstick in MATTador. For nail polish option I also have Essence's Juicy Love in my stash, but Essence has been messing with their formulas, so I'm not sure it's the same. I also found you some alternatives/dupes for Lady Danger: Milani Matte Lipstick in Passion, Nyx Matte Indie Flick, Wet n' Wild Megalast Purty Persimmon, Maybelline Craving Coral, ...

The Glamorous One

Nothing screams glamour more than a classic blue toned red lipstick. These types of lip colour also make you teeth look more white, so it's no wonder they are so popular. My absolute favourite is L'Oreal's Colour Riche in Blake which is a part of the Collection Exclusives. The colour is stunning and the finish is matte, plus the formula is the absolute best I've tried - it's way better than the more popular Mac's lipsticks. I paired it with Catrice's Ultimate Nail Colour in Bloody Mary to go, which is a type of shade everyone should have in their collection. For a lip liner I used Catrice's Longlasting Lip Pencil in 040 …and a Cherry on the Top and I also added Ardell's Demi Wispies to bump up the glam.  

Though I stand firm that Blake is by far the best choice here, I have some alternatives. The most obvious choices are from MAC - the good old Ruby Woo, Russian Red and MAC Red. For cheaper options I have Makeup Revolution's Pro Iconic lipstick in Propoganda, Salvation Intense Lacquer in A Love Like That and Freedom Makeup's Pro Red 108 Expression, but you might know already that I'm just not feeling these three, well at least you'll still hear that soon about the last one, but they are very budget friendly. The other closest other nail polish I have is Essie's Really Red, but it's a neutral shade, so almost doesn't fit here any more.

The Vampy One

Not everyone can muster up the courage to go so dark and yet I find such shades of red the easiest to wear, especially in colder months. Classic reds look too classy for everyday and orange reds look super punchy, but with burgundies I feel much more at ease. There was a time when I wore Rimmel's Matte Lipstick in 107 every day, but I have to say that the days of that lipstick came to an end the moment I found L'Oreal's Colour Riche in Laetitia. It is everything I dreamed of a burgundy lipstick to be. It's from the same collection as Blake and it has that same gorgeous matte formula. I paired it with Essence's Colour & Go in Do You Speak Love on the nails, which Essence discontinued in this formula, but I believe the shade is still the same or possibly very similar in the new Gel Nails line. The perfect lip liner to pair up with such shades is Catrice's Longlasting Lip Pencil in Berryson Ford.

I have no shortage of burgundies in my collection, it is after all my favourite colour for autumn. For lip colour alternatives I already mentioned Rimmel's 107, others include Bourjois's Rouge Edition Velvet in 08 Grand Cru and for those who don't want to go matte, Rimmel's Apocalips in Eclipse. Nice nail polish options are OPI's Malaga Wine, Revlon's Parfumerie in Bordeaux and for those who want to amp the vamp factor go for Essie's Sole Mate.

So what's your favourite red? I hope you enjoyed this post and have a great day!

NOTD: Depend 036

Depend 036 is a tomato red shade. Can be a one coater, but I do two, nonetheless. It applies like a dream and I really like the brush. I've been wearing it three days so far and it hasn't chipped yet. Depend polishes are sold in DMs for around 2.5€.

Thanks for reading!

Loving Now

There is a reason I love favourites posts, because I always find great products that lovely bloggers recommend. I her June favourites Evi from Lipstick Wardrobe mentioned Max Factor's Liquid Effect Pencil and how great it is. So I had to check it out and I discovered a dark brown shade that is a great replacement for black eyeliner. It's similar to Avon Supershock eyeliner and works well both on waterline and on the top lash line (once it dries, it doesn't budge). Another eyeliner I got recently is from Essence and it's their gel eyeliner in 02 London baby. It's a great dark taupe shade and is another nice everyday alternative to black. 

Taya from Taya- My Little Beauty World posted swatches of Depend's Holographic nail polishes. Before that post I didn't even know Depend had such a line. I wanted a silver holographic nail polish for so long and I finally got it in a local drugstore for a reasonable price. Yay! I need 3 layers for full coverage. It is one of my favourite nail polishes in my collection. I tried taking pictures of it, it's not the best swatch in the world and it's already a bit chipped (this is the fifth day I'm wearing it, I have Seche Vite on top) but it'll have to do.

I much prefer cream blushes to powder and my recent addition is by Essence from their Ready for Boarding collection shade 02 Beauty on Tour. I tried taking pictures of it, but my camera apparently hates that shade and refuses to take a nice picture of it. You can find nice swatches of it here: click. It's a very pigmented bright pinky coral shade that really brightens up the face and also looks nice on the lips.

Pulse by Beyonce (original review here) has been sitting relatively untouched on my vanity since I bought it, until a couple of weeks ago when I ''rediscovered'' it and started using it almost every day. It's just the perfect combination of sweet orange candy and powdery notes. I'm really loving it right now.

Balea Bademomente Sinnesfroh has been lying forgotten in one of my mini baskets for months, I had no idea what a nice product was hidding somewhere in my room. The product itself is nothing special, just a regular bath salt that turns your water brown (could of been some other colour), but the smell is fantastic. It smells like a hot cup of cocoa, so chocolatey and sweet. I'll definitely get some more if I can still find it, I know it was LE.