Red Lipstick

You ever have an event coming up and instinctively begin planning an outfit to wear for it in your head? Sometimes it’s based on pieces you already have in your wardrobe. Sometimes it’s based on inspiration you come across. And sometimes it’s completely fictitious and you basically think of it out of thin air. And then- the hunt begins.

For me the hunt is the worst part of fashion; the worst part about being a woman. Because you hop from store to store trying to look for pieces that fit this fashion vision. A vision that doesn’t necessarily exist.

I’ve wanted to try this yellow, blue and red color scheme out in an outfit for a few years now. And I finally got the chance to play!

My vision was to wear a yellow dress, with blue heels and red accents; nails & of course lips. (You guys know I LOVE a red lip.)

The dress was a surprising find. But I gave up hope on the blue shoes for a while, until recently one day I came across a pair of ankle strapped sandals and I instantly fell in love.

The heels were actually bought and worn for an entirely different outfit and I actually wore the yellow dress once before styled differently. But as the pieces of my dream outfit slowly began piling in place, I finally took my latest invite to wear this dream outfit of mine.

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Let me break it down for you. *In crappy, edited cell phone pics.

Full Look all pulled together:

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Close-ups of my makeup:

I basically used a lot of bronze colors, golds, whites and browns, filled in my eyebrows, applied mascara, and I used a navy blue eyeshadow as eyeliner on top and bottom. Then I used a red lip pencil (with a berry undertone) and a matte bright red lipstick over top. Bronzer, Blush and highlighter were also in effect in this look.

(How flawless does my best friend look??? #BrightLipsOnPoint #BrightLipSistas)

My accessories:

I love gold accessories. I think they complemented the pale yellow color of the dress nicely. I also chose the mirrored “diamond” rings to complement each other. And now that I think about it all the detailing in my outfit was silver; my zipper up the back of my dress, my shoe buckles and my purse zipper. So the mirrored accents on my jewelry tied all that in.

I skipped a necklace this time and went for some really cool funky peacock feathered earrings that hung down and dressed up my hair in the process. I love how the greens and blues of the feather complemented the yellow and the red.

Ignore the after hours makeup mess. lol. I was just trying to get the earrings in. haha.

I also added a blue clutch to match the shoes and a taupe cardigan to match the underlying layer of the yellow eyelet dress.

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My clutch is actually double sided. The other side is black, which I didn’t mind too much even with such a bright outfit, because the soles of my blue heels are black. So it all tied in. And let’s be real I made sure the blue side was on display to match the blue heels.

Clutch Essentials:

I’m a big purse kind of girl. On a regular basis, I usually carry a huge purse or bag. My purse is essentially my life in a bag. So how does a girl like that downsize her sack bag, into a clutch? Here’s how I did it.

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*First choose a decent sized clutch, and just take the basics.

Money

Keys

Lip products (for touch-ups)

Hair ties

Hand sanitizer

A mirror

Pill case with Tylenol & Tums

Packages of Pepto Bismal & Claritin

Granola bar

Emergency Pads/Liners (#girlprobs #noshame)

Oil absorbing sheets

Gum

Band-Aids

Tissues (not pictured)

My Catholic saints, rosary and pray rock- treasures that come with me wherever I go.

*Tip: Leave the flats or flip flops and sunglasses in the car.

* I know this seems like a long list, but I fit everything and had a little wiggle room. #missionaccomplished

My Hair:

For my hair style I went pretty simple. I washed my hair, and left it in a top knot after applying products; curling serum, curling mousse and hairspray. I let those products take and dry a bit as I did my makeup. When I was ready to start my hair, I took it down and found it dried in a scrunched formation. Which is what I wanted. Then I blow dried it and added some dry shampoo to the crown for volume along with more hairspray before curling my hair with my curling wand. After that I shook the curls loose by tipping my head over and running my fingers through my hair. Then parted my hair on the side, swept my curly hair to the side and used an clear elastic to put it into a side pony tail. I opted for the clear elastic, because you couldn’t see it, and my curls didn’t get squashed by a big old hair tie. After curling a few front pieces to frame my face, I secured any bumps or flyaways with some bobby bins and Voila! Done.

**I really loved how this look turned out. The dress was a pale yellow, with a unique eyelet detail and so I opted for a neutral taupe cardigan this way the bold red lips and bright shoes didn’t clash. There is certainly a variety of color here, but when blocked a certain way, I really think a look like this can work.

So is there a certain look you’ve been wanting to try out, but haven’t.

Three words. Go. For. It.

*All photos are my own.*

-<3-

It feels like just yesterday I was plastering on layers and layers of ~~unflattering~~ frosty pink lip gloss.

Mandy Moore, get it girl. #youworkthatfrostypink

Ah the 90’s. The Best.

But what I’ve recently been gravitating toward is the bold red lip. Now I don’t know when or why I started picking up on this timeless trend.

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The haters don’t like your red lips…#shakeitoff

Maybe it is due to my graceful respect of Taylor Swift and all her gloriousness…

But wherever my infatuation came from was cause enough to be a driving force for a main source of imagery in my series Mysterious Attraction.

*^Click and read from the beginning.

But never the less red was never my color.

Which is odd considering it’s my mother’s favorite color and basically the color of CHRISTMAS!

Photo By: Robert DeSantos Jr.

But I just never gravitated toward it.

I didn’t hate it, I just never really thought about it as a favorite.

I think I own maybe a handful of red clothes at best.

But I will say that when it comes to the bold lip lately, red has been my go to.

Now I get that not everyone feels they can pull off a red lip. Sometimes I put it on, and rethink it myself. Or sometimes I’m just like ok you’ve been wearing it too much lately, Michelle. Give it a rest, and use one of the other hundreds of lip colors you own. (lip products and nail polishes are my weakness!)

And granted maybe there are people out there, who think that I can’t pull off a red lip as well as I think I can.

But I like it and that is simply all that matters.

So for any girls out there who have been wanting to try a bold red lip but are nervous to, I’d say go for it!

There are many shades of red too, you got your bright reds, your dark reds, your wine reds, your burgundy reds, your orangey reds. I can promise you, you can find at least one that suits your skin tone, and makes you feel timeless.

Because that’s the thing about a red lip, it transports us back to the glamorous days of old Hollywood, and silent/black and white films (even in a black and white film you know that girl was wearing a red lip!), or that old Marilyn Monroe picture of her in her white dress and it blowing in the wind.

There is just something sexy and classic about wearing a red lip.

And I for one LOVE IT! Do you girls get me?

Did you think I’d let this go any further without a little soundtrack?

notice the girl’s lip color 😉

HOW TO STYLE A BOLD RED LIP:

Featuring my fashion queen Demi Lovato

Black with red accents is always an A+

In these Demi looks that I chose to showcase, Demi pairs a bright red lip often with an LBD (little black dress) or some form of a white and black base with red accents. I love black, white, and red together. I love how neutral the white and black are and then BAM RED! I love to include red nails too. And if you’ve got some red jewelry or red heels include them! Gold or silver jewelry works fine too, depending on the outfit! Just be careful not to overload / over accessorize! Note: You don’t have to be all decked out in a dress to rock a red lip, as you can see in the second set of Demi pictures, she is simply wearing a more grunge leather look and still chose the red lip. The leather meets red lip is fire in my opinion, it’s spunky meets classy. It’s just about how you pull everything together.

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Just some personal photos of how I worked in red accents to a black & white jumpsuit.

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Another way Demi chose to embrace a red lip is to embrace red throughout her whole look!

Demi stuns that red carpet! When I saw her walk out in that dress, I was so proud of her! She’s actively spoken about her struggles with body image and to see her embracing her curves, and her body was a really inspiring thing. We Latina girls have hips, and butts, it’s just the way it is. We can’t help it. So work it girls! Own your style.