I’ve been asked very often lately about which lipsticks I use and how I apply them, so here’s a post all about it!

I generally apply all my lipsticks with a brush. I apply once, blot with a tissue, apply again and finally bite off the excess on the tissue (not blot entirely again, just the inside rim of my lips). I don’t use a lipliner. Some very glossy lipsticks may start to run slightly after a whole day of wear but otherwise this method works great for me and my lipstick usually stays on all day with just minor touchups after eating.

Please excuse the increasingly bad lighting in the photos. The sun was setting as I took them.

Lipsticks from left to right: Make Up Forever 201, Make Up Forever 205, Besame’s Carmine, (a pink L’Oréal lipstick I only use occasionally to mix with others so I won’t write about it), MAC’s Vegas Volt, YSL’s Rouge Volupté 16, Clinique’s Flamenco, Older tube of Flamenco, Maybelline’s Fatal Red, Julie Hewett’s Belle Noir, MAC’s Ruby Woo. Also, my lipstick brush from Sephora.

My lightest lipstick shade is MAC’s Vegas Volt. It’s a light pinkish coral and looks lipsticky while having a very neutral color, which is what I was looking for. I’m still on the lookout for the perfect coral, but until I find it this is a great shade. I’ve used this a LOT and it’s starting to run out.

It has a tendency to look a bit patchy if it’s not applied in thin layers, but otherwise the quality is great.

Next is Make Up Forever’s 201. I really want a pure, bright orange lipstick and thought this would be it, but if I want it to be really orange I have to apply it so thickly it looks patchy, and it’s still not quite yellow enough. Applied thinly like in this photo its a quite neutral reddish coral. I use this when I don’t want to waste any of my better lipsticks.

This is Bésame’s Carmine. It’s described as a bright orange red but on me it’s more of a dark coral. I’m still looking for the perfect bright technicolor orange red but I love this shade, it’s very summery to me.

I love the quality of this lipstick. It’s quite matte, has lots of pigment and smells good. Also, a beautiful tube is a huge plus for me, I am much more likely to buy a lipstick if the tube is pretty, and this one is wonderful. It looks just a like a 40s bullet shaped lipstick.

This is my latest acquisition, Julie Hewett’s Belle Noir. I’ve been curious about the Julie Hewett lipsticks for a while (because of the pretty tubes!) and it did not disappoint. I find it very similar in quality to Bésame. Perhaps somewhat more creamy/less matte, which is a plus to me. The tube is similar in shape to Bésame’s but slightly bigger, and not actual metal, which gives it a bit less of that heavy quality feel, but it still looks amazing on my vanity.

With this shade I was once again hoping for that technicolor orangy red, but it’s not quite as bright as I hoped for. Still I love this shade. It’s very similar to Bésame’s Carmine but a bit darker and redder.

I didn’t get a good photo of this so I’m using this old one. I bought YSL’s Rouge Volupté 16 because of the gorgeous packaging. The best way to describe the colour would be “light red”. It’s pretty glossy and has a very slippery consistency. This means it’s not the most durable of lipsticks.

I got this lipstick for free with a coupon I found in a magazine, Maybelline’s Fatal Red. It’s very glossy and quite sheer, but if you apply it liberally it’s really a quite bright red. The glossiness makes it feel very festive to me, but I don’t use it often since glossy lipsticks like this tend to not stay on very as well as others. It’s also a bit too sticky for my liking. I wear it when I want a really glossy glamorous look.

I would probably not have bought it if it wasn’t free, since it’s so sheer and you really need to pack it on to get an opaque colour, but I’m still very happy to have it. It smells great and actually has a very pretty tube with a clear red lid over a chrome silver tube.

Clinique’s Flamenco has been my “signature” lipstick for many, many years. I still remember the day I bought my first tube (I’m on my second one now, it lasts a long time). I was having an ugly day and by chance ended up in a Clinique shop. My mum was buying something and I was just looking around while waiting for her. As always I was on the lookout for the perfect red, and I found it! I put it on right there in the shopping center and instantly felt beautiful.

This is truly the perfect red for me, not pinkish, not orange, just bright, bright red. The quality is amazing as well. It’s so creamy and goes on so smoothly with tons of colour in the first sweep. The tube is beautiful as well, real metal with a silver finish, though the design has changed slightly over the years.

The lighting is terrible in this, but this is MAC’s Ruby Woo. It took me a long time to understand this lipstick. It’s completely matte and therefore incredibly dry and hard to apply. When I got it I didn’t really like it and didn’t get what the hype was about, but I’ve grown to love it, and it’s now one of my most used lipsticks.

The trick is using lots of chapstick before applying the lipstick, and applying quite a lot, and carefully. When you really get a good coat on your lips the matte finish makes it looks so velvety, and the shade is a beautiful deep, blueish but not too blueish, red. I think this is probably the most striking lipstick against my skin.

Finally Make Up Forever’s 205. This is a dark pinkish red. Usually I don’t feel it suits my skintone very well, but every once in a while it’s just what I want. It goes on easily and evenly and has a somewhat glossy finish without being the slightest bit sticky. I feel the quality of this is a lot better than 201 even though they’re from the same brand and line.

That’s it! Feel free to ask if there’s anything more you’d like to know!