Before you even think about colors, you need to determine your skin's undertones in order to find the most flattering hue for your skin. Take these three tests to figure out whether you're "warm" or "cool."
• Wear a pure white towel or bathrobe and wrap your hair in another white towel in your bathroom and look at your skin in a mirror (the white helps the color under your skin be more pronounced). If your skin looks blue-ish, you have cool undertones. If it looks yellow-ish, you have warm undertones.
• Hold a silver piece of jewelry as well as a gold piece against your skin: Which one looks better? Try not to think about your taste preferences. If the silver looks more harmonious on your skin, you have cool undertones. If the gold looks better, you have warm undertones.
• Go out in the sunlight and look at the veins on your underarm. If your veins look blue-ish or blue-purple, you have cool undertones. If they look yellow or green, you have warm undertones.
When you know what your undertones are, you're ready to find the perfect fall lip color for you.
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Step No. 2: Prep your pout
The first step to having flawless lip color is creating a smooth base. Follow these tips to get flake-free lips:
Once a week: Exfoliate your lips with a lip exfoliator like h.wood.beauty h.wood.lips Lip Tea Scrub, $20. Or you can make your own scrub at home. Mix a tablespoon of virgin olive oil with a pinch of brown sugar and lightly rub the mixture over your lips to remove any flakes.
Right before lip color application: Apply a lip balm and let it absorb for a couple of minutes. Then blot it off so that the lipstick doesn't slip off.
Now that your lips are prepped, let's look at the hot new lip colors for fall.
While summer was all about the soft pinks and bright corals, lips are getting a bold overhaul for the new season. Fall trends are calling for deep plums and rich mauves for your pout, and you'll find that there's a color for everyone -- even the Chapstick-wearer in the corner who dares to maybe wear tinted lip balm for a night out.
We get it: Bold lipstick can be intimidating. What if it bleeds, flakes, or worse -- leaves red stains on your man's crisp white shirt? Even those of us who've dabbled with the coral colors of summer may find these hues for fall pretty daring. But with all these gorgeous colors, it'd be a crying shame if we didn't partake. That's why we talked to Jessie Powers, Make Up For Ever National Educator, who filled us in on how to wear these fall lip trends. Turns out it's all about choosing the right hue for your skin tone and undertones.
So whether you're a lipstick newbie or bonafide beauty junkie, there's never been a better time to break out of your lip box and experiment. Here's how to do it right.
