The Perfect Bridal Lip
Apart from the dress, another big decision for many brides when it comes to the big day is what lipstick to wear. To ensure your perfect pout walking up the aisle, a little lip care in the run up to your wedding day is essential to have soft, flake-free and perfectly primed kissable lips. Read on for my top tips for wedding ready lips and some gorgeous nude and red shades you might like to consider.
Start with a lip exfoliator like Clinique Sweet Pots Lip Balm & Scrub. This is the perfect on-the-go lip treatment that marries! a sugar-smoothing scrub on one side and an intensely hydrating tinted balm on the other, €17 Debenhams. Another more purse friendly one is e.l.f. Lip Exfoliator €6.49, Boots. Infused with Vitamin E, shea butter, avocado, grape and jojoba oils, this exfoliates lips to remove dry, chapped skin leaving lips conditioned and revitalized. Gently rub the tube over your lips in small, circular motions and wipe gently with a cotton pad and follow up with a nourishing lip balm. Bioderma Atoderm Lip Balm is a recent find for me and I love it. This restores dry, chapped lips and with its highly nourishing active ingredient, shea butter, biologically repairs and regenerates weakened lips, leaving them feeling super soft, available from selected pharmacies nationwide €3.75.
On the day itself, while a long-lasting finish is important so too is a little lip prep the morning of the ceremony which will go a long way to ensuring lips stay hydrated and crack-free. Lip primers are designed to pamper and protect in order to give your lipstick the best chance of lasting all day and night. MAC Prep + Prime Lip is a colour-free base to wear under lipstick that adds light moisture and smoothes and refines the lips while also improving the appearance of applied lip products, €17.50, Brown Thomas. Another great lip primer is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Primer, €19 Beautybay.com. This is the perfect base for all lip colours, nourishing, and smoothing and helps to prevent feathering and fading, you can use it as a base or wear it alone to add an instant boost of hydration. Another bonus – it can also be used as a lip-repairing treatment at night.
While the lip prep is underway, the task of choosing your wedding lipstick can start, more often than not your makeup artist will be able to advise but if like me, you decide to do your own makeup, this can take a little time to choose. The key here is to find something that suits you and your skin tone but to pick one that will also have the longevity required. A nude shade is, without doubt, the most popular lip colour for brides, it’s timeless, it’s natural to your skin tone, flattering against very light colours, such as white and ivory and it’s unlikely you’ll look back on your photos hating it. I love a nude lip and it’s what I wore for my own wedding. Here are some nude options you might like to check out.
Mac Modesty, €20 Brown Thomas, is a neutral nude pink, neither too cool nor warm, so it gets along with just about everyone. It has a creme sheen finish and is perfect for that natural look. Charlotte Tilbury universally-flattering Pillow Talk Matte Revolution Lipstick, €32 Brown Thomas, enhances the natural hue of your lips so is unique to your skin tone and natural lip colour and creates a sumptuous, pillowy lip in seconds. Another great shade from the Matte Revolution range is Bitch Perfect, a peach-toned nude, while Very Victoria is a beautiful rosy shade with mauve undertones. If you’re having difficulty finding your perfect nude check out the Charlotte Tilbury website as they have a very handy lipstick finder tool which may help you decide.
Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick By Kate Moss 08, €7.49 Boots, is one of the best nudes available on the high street. It’s a muted mauve pink in a highly creamy and pigmented formula, which settles to a satin finish. Despite feeling incredibly comfortable on the lips, it doesn’t smudge easily and can handle a lot of reapplication without looking patchy. Kate Middleton’s wedding lipstick of choice was bestselling Bobbi Brown Sandwash Pink, this iconic creamy, semi-matte lipstick is comfortable to wear, and gives full-coverage colour and a polished look, €28.95 lookfantastic.com.
While the majority of brides opt for a natural nude lipstick, some do like to rock a red lips, especially if it’s the vintage starlet look they’re after. If red lip is what you’re leaning toward, the key is to find the right colour of red for your skin tone. You may think that one red suits all, but you will find cool and warm undertones in red lipsticks. If you have fair skin with pink or cool undertones, look for blue-based red lipstick. If you have olive skin or warm undertones, opt for red lipstick with orange tones. To prevent any unwanted stains on your teeth, blot the inside of your lips to remove them. A pencil corrector or concealer to clean up the edges of your lips is also a good idea.
Some ravishing reds you might like to experiment with include NARS Powermatte Lip Pigment Light my Fire, €26 Brown Thomas. A double-sided lipstick, perfect for brides because of the punchy long-wear pigment on one side and gloss on the other. If you are a winter bride, perhaps at Christmas time, this will look sensational. Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick Red Carpet Red, a true red shade is perfect for amping up the glamour for that classic old Hollywood effect, €32.00 Brown Thomas. Clarins Jolie Rouge 743 Cherry Red has a rich and creamy formula that leaves lips with intense colour and a delicate satin finish that will last you well into your last dance. Enriched with organic Salicornia extract and mango oil, it intensely moisturises the lips and the long-wearing colour stays on for six hours, €24 Clarins.ie. MAC Ruby Roo a classic Marilyn-esque red, is a very matte blue-red lipstick, lovely paired with the Ruby Woo lip pencil, €20 Brown Thomas. Sometimes a matte finish can emphasise chapped lips so do load up on primer/balm before application I find using a lip brush prevents dragging.
Whatever shade of lipstick you do end up opting for, between the kisses, the sips of champagne and bites of cake, have a wonderful day.
Sherna x
