How to Apply Red Lipstick

I'm Katrina Szish with InStyle magazine for howdini.com and anyone can look good in red lipstick. I'm going to show you how to apply it and keep it looking great all day long.

Most important thing to start with is the trusty lipliner. Now when you're using the lipliner, make sure that you fill in the natural line of your lips. We don't want to see anybody making fake lips that don't exist because then you just look silly. Okay.
Once you've outlined your lip, you also want to fill in your lip with the lipliner because that will help the lipstick last much longer, doesn't have to be perfect because it's just acting as a lip stain.

Next, select your lipstick. Now there are lots of red lipstick shades out there. My favorite happens to be Red Lizard by Nars not just because I like the look of the color, but because it matches my skin tone. I have blue in my skin tone and this balances it out nicely. Anything that's too pink or too orange won't look good on me. So make sure you work with someone at the makeup counter to determine the right shade of red for you.

Now instead of just taking this and putting it on my lips--that can get messy--so just take a lip brush. They're easy to find at any drug store, any makeup store, just make sure it's very small so you can actually color in the lines.

Next, take a little bit of the lipstick onto the lip brush and simply apply. Follow that outside line again. This is where you're getting that smooth, glamorous look. You're going to have to add more lipstick to the lip brush as you're going. And if you mess up a little bit like I did, you can use your finger or a Q tip just to get it back in place.

Now mash the lips together. That will help distribute the lipstick on both lips. Now as you can see I did go out of the lines a little bit which is very natural with such an intense pigment, so it's always good to have some cover-up or concealer standing by. Or a little bit of foundation. So I'm going to use the one I normally use on my skin, and just cover it over.

You can do this in several coats because that helps the staying power of the lipstick. Rub the lips together. Fill in any place that looks a little bit empty. And there you go. Now some people for that final touch--you have to be careful with this--take your actual lipstick and just to fill in, give that final glam, smooth look, take it lightly over your lips. In the center, not out to the edges or you're bound to make a mistake and go out of the lines.

And voila! Perfect red lips that will last even longer if you do this final step: the blot. Take something like a napkin, or a paper towel, or even a tissue and very gently blot. Just like that. You'll have perfect red lips that will last all day long.