Corinna B November 14, 2017

Product Spotlight YSL Tatouage Couture

Its the season for red lips. Like the other 3 seasons there is no time more perfect for wearing a red lip!

Actually I do believe that fall and winter are the best seasons for red lipstick. In the hot, white light of summer red can be overwhelming, but in the dull light of fall and winter a red lip can be a breath of fresh air. It lightens and brightens your complexion, and makes you both look and feel vibrant, gorgeous and alive.

If you have been following this blog for a while then you already know my favorite red lipsticks, and I will put a list at the end of this post, but I have a new one (or 5!) to add to the list.

Meet my latest obsession, YSL Rouge Tatouage. I have been wearing it every day and think its the best thing ever.

YSL Tatouage Couture is a liquid-matte stain that gives you high impact color but with a lightweight, naked feel to it. The color is gorgeously saturated, especially in the bold pinks and the reds. Red lips can be tricky to wear, because not only do you need to get the undertone correct, but with its bold, attention stealing hue you have to get the texture absolutely right. Most matte reds dry the lip out, so a few hours into wearing it your lips look flaky and bubbly, and suddenly your killer red lip is just a mess. Glossy reds are hard to wear because even if they aren’t slipping they typically give the illusion of being on the move, and also look messy.

Apart from the fabulous selection of colors what I am loving most about the Tatouage reds is the finish. This is a matte that stays looking healthy all day. The ink-like formula is designed to give you 8 hours without needing to reapply. It doesn’t crack or dry out. Lips look both luscious and precise, the two requirements for pulling off red to perfection.

I have a cool skin tone, so the perfect Tatouage red for me is Shade 1, Rouge Tatouage. This is a vibrant pink red. Shade 10, Carmin Statement is a medium blue red and is also great for cool toned girls.

Shade 12, Red Tribe is a rich, true red that I am loving for my olive skinned girls, along with Shade 13, True Orange, a bright coral red. Shade 9, Grenat No Rules is a rust red, also lovely on warmer skins and dark skins.

I wish I had bought Rouge Tatouage prior to my Paris trips this year. It is the perfect French girl red that looks completely stunning with very little other makeup.

My other favorite red lipsticks:

MAC Ruby Woo has been a long term favorite blue based red lipstick.

Charlotte Tilbury Red Carpet Red is a classic, old Hollywood red.

Tatcha Kyoto Red is a vermillion, geisha inspired red.

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Corinna B November 12, 2017

How To Choose The Perfect Red Lip

Red lips always look so fresh and modern.

They imply strength and self confidence. Red lipstick refreshes and brightens any look. It can take jeans and a white t-shirt from casual to fabulous, and can turn a little black dress from merely pretty to absolutely stunning.

They are the perfect foil to not having time to put makeup on – a little foundation, brows, mascara and a swipe of red lipstick paired with tousled hair takes you from undone to French girl insouciance in the blink of an eye.

Red lipstick channels both your inner rebel and your inner seductress.

Choosing a red lipstick can feel a little overwhelming, with what seems to be an endless array of color variations to select from, but it’s actually quite easy.

Fair Skin

If you have fair skin or are cool toned you will look fabulous in pink-reds, blue-reds and cherry-reds.

Medium Skin

If you have medium/warm/olive skin tone your best red is an orange-red. If you want more depth you can also wear a brick-red.

Dark Skin

If you have a darker complexion your best reds are berry-reds and deep, resonant reds.

Technique

The trick to mastering the perfect red pout is in the technique you use. Red lips love precision, so start out with a good lip liner. Rather than trying to build your lip, stay along the line. The goal is a crisp lip line that also prevents the lipstick from feathering.

12 Beauty Tips That Every Girl Should Know

Photo by Isaac bailey, makeup by Corinna Cooke

Every girl who wears makeup wants tips on how to make it last longer or look better. Here are 12 essential tips you need to know.

12 Essential Makeup Tips

Timing

1.Allow a minute or two between applying your moisturizer and your sunscreen to let your moisturizer soak in, and then another couple of minutes between your sunscreen and your primer. This will help your makeup to glide on more seamlessly and last all day.

Foundation

2.Foundation is supposed to make your skin look flawless and perfect, but still actually look like skin. A thick layer of opaque, full cover foundation doesn’t look like skin, and generally looks awful. Choose the sheerest formula of foundation you can, and apply it sparingly.

3. Your foundation color choice should be based on your skin’s undertone. Warm toned girls need warm based foundations, cool toned girls need cool based foundations. Nothing will look right if you don’t get this most basic principal right!

Powder

4. Powder sets foundation. If you want your foundation to stay on all day you need to set it.

Photo by Isaac Bailey, makeup by Corinna Cooke

Eyebrows

5. Nothing changes your face more than your eyebrows! If you have a small space between your brow and your lash-line, accent the upper edge of your brow to open the eye space. If you have a large gap between lash-line and brow you can soften it by accenting the lower edge of your brow. Too much color in the inner third of the brow can make you look angry and make your eyes look too close set.

Lifting through the arch and creating a slight extra tail to the brow can make the eyes look more alert and further spaced apart.

*Heavy eyebrow makeup can collapse a face.

**There is no place in the world for Instagram eyebrows.

Learn how to get the perfect eyebrow shape for your face here

Contour

6. Contour on the cheeks should be subtle. It should create a slight shadow under the cheekbone, making the bone look a little more pronounced and lifted. If the person standing next to you can see a brown contour line it is an epic makeup fail!

Bronzer

7. Bronzer is to make you look like you have been outside in the sunshine. It is not a contour product, and it is not to correct a foundation that is too pale. Bronzer is one of the greatest makeup products ever created, and also the most abused. Keep your bronzer subtle, apply it to the high planes of the face – forehead, cheekbones, chin, and also apply to your collarbones if they will be exposed.

Liquid and gel bronzers help you look glowy instead of shimmery.

Primer

8. Eye shadow primer will make your eye shadow last longer (hopefully all day) and will boost the color.

Mascara

9. Waterproof mascara should only be worn when you are planning on swimming or crying! Daily use of waterproof can lead to lash breakage and thinning. (not based on science, but based on years of doing makeup and seeing broken lashes on girls who wear waterproof all the time!)

10. Waterproof mascara should be removed with an eye-makeup remover that is designed to dissolve waterproof makeup. This helps to minimize breakage.

Lipstick

11. Dark lipstick is incredibly aging. It also makes lips look thinner, more compressed, and angry. If you are older or have thin lips, dark lipstick is your enemy. Matte lipstick is not a great choice for an older woman. It makes the lip look deflated and dry.