For a while there, I couldn’t be bothered to put on makeup. I didn’t have the time or energy, so I traded my makeup application time for sleep time. (Applying makeup is fun for me, though, and I treat it as an act of self-care – goes to show you where my mind was at! But I digress).
During that phase, though, my lipsticks would be calling out to me as I passed by my vanity each morning. Hello! Don’t you miss us?
I did miss them! But I couldn’t wear lipstick without any other makeup, right? Isn’t it a faux pas to wear lipstick with a bare face? Oh, what the heck. So I took two seconds to swipe on a bullet as I went out the door.
Oh, no. It did not work. My favourite go-to shades were giving clown. But I wasn’t about to give up! With a bit of continued experimentation at home, I think I finally figured out how to make it work! Here it is, my guide to wearing lipstick with a bare face.
Note: As with anything makeup I don’t believe in a “right way” to do it – this is just what works for me and my complexion.
Why Does My Lipstick Look Bad Without Other Makeup?
For me, it was a combination of three main things:
1. Too much shimmer or shine
We already have natural variation of colour in the skin. Think shadows, rosy cheeks, spots, freckles, and random redness.
A shimmery, shiny lipstick creates even more variation on the lip, which emphasizes the natural variation of the skin.
My suggestion is to find a satin or a gentle matte that is not too drying, but maintains a soft, even canvas.
The exception is very bold colours, where there’s enough contrast between the lip and the skin that a little shimmer or shine won’t matter. It’ll cause the eye to bypass the skin and focus in on the lip colour.
I have neutral (often leaning cool) olive skin. The variation:
- Redness. Mostly around the nose, on the cheeks and chin, and sometimes around my lips (gasp!).
- Purple dark circles.
Aside from evening out the lip canvas, we want to think about all the other colours we’re working with, and find a shade that works.
2. Ignoring discolouration in your skin
Red and purple discolouration on fair olive skin is a tough combination!
In addition to finding a shade that works with your natural skin tone, you need to work with the other colours that show up on your face. If a shade matches too closely with discolouration, it can bring it out more.
Case in point: if I have redness around my mouth, any shades of lipstick that have orange or red in them will pull my redness out further. (As you can imagine, this is when I really start seeing clown).
3. The wrong shade for your undertone
Continuing our work in colour theory, we want to find a shade that works with our undertone.
I’m neutral, leaning cool. The wrong shade of lipstick will make me look sallow, or inflamed, depending on whether I’ve gone too warm or too cool.
Let’s address these issues with the tips below!
Get a Great Base Going Without Makeup
I know, I know – the key to “everything” is basically having a great base.
But it works!
I’m not a skincare expert, and I keep it extremely basic for my sensitive skin. If you can stay hydrated and apply appropriate skincare for your skin type, you’ll immediately up your true no-makeup look.
What are we targeting?
- Reducing some redness
- Evening skin tone
- Addressing texture, dry flaky skin, or oily skin with your usual skincare
- SPF
All of these things will go a long way to making it easier to wear a greater variety of lipsticks with your beautiful bare face.
Of course, we don’t want to forget lip care! I like to sleep in lip masks and exfoliate as needed to keep them in great shape; after all, if your only makeup item is lipstick, that’s where the attention will be drawn to. So create that great base!
The Best Lipstick Finish For A Bare Face
This depends on the look you’re going for, of course.
If you are used to wearing just lip gloss, but want to venture into bullet lipsticks, something with a sheer pearl finish might be ideal. My lipstick of choice for this leg of the journey was MAC “Viva Glam V”!
A benefit to going this route is that these tend to be a bit more moisturizing, and a pearl finish can hide some flaws on a dry lip day. Others might cling and emphasize dry areas though, so be careful!
Honestly, I don’t have a lot of lipsticks with this finish anymore – I’ve been really into matte and satin finishes since becoming a full-time lipstick wearer.
I did enjoy the MAC Lustre formula when it was being produced, though (that was the formula of Viva Glam V), but I believe it’s been replaced with MAC’s Lustreglass Sheer-Shine formula. Could be worth a shot (and let me know if you think I need to try it anyways!)
My favourite formulas in general, but particularly for no-makeup days, are mattes, and satins that lean matte. I feel like these formulas usually provide even coverage without much of a shine, creating a field of lip colour without variation.
Since I have a lot of variation on my face already, I like the lips to be one solid shade, rather than adding to the chaos. Especially with mattes, it’s key to have the lips in good condition so that we aren’t unintentionally emphasizing lip flakiness.
My current favourite mattes are Charlotte Tilbury’s Matte Revolution and MAC’s Matte Lipsticks.
For a great satin, check out the satin-finish lipsticks from the Urban Decay Vice line.
What Lipstick Shade is Best Without Other Makeup?
Shades are so difficult to recommend of course because everyone is unique! So here’s a mix of general advice and what worked for me.
First, my two favourite families of shades:
- BOLD – we are here to make a statement
- MLBB (“my lips, but better”) – we are just enhancing our natural otherwise bare-faced beauty
What else is there? Well, there are the nudes. I wouldn’t recommend a truly nude lipstick without other makeup. Makeup usually does things like even out the skin tone, add colour to the complexion (blush, bronzer, etc.) and add definition (eg. to the eyes). Without these things, putting on a nude lip may just wash you out.
Think about undertones:
Now, whether you’re going BOLD or MLBB, it’s helpful to know your undertone and stick with it for a more cohesive look. Again, without other makeup to bring everything together, I like to lean toward cohesion! When you wear makeup, you can somewhat adjust the tones so that you can wear a cooler lipstick if you’re warm, or a warmer lipstick if you’re cool, and still pull it off.
Watch out for the other colours naturally arising on your face:
As I mentioned, I get a lot of redness around the mouth, the nose, and on my eyelids, so I don’t like to wear colours that “bring out” that red or blend with it. For me, that includes warm mid-tone lipsticks such as browns and corals. I love them, but not on my bare face!
I also have dark under eyes which are sometimes red and purple but often look almost taupe, so as much as I love a taupe lipstick, it’s like a magnet to my eyebags if I don’t wear concealer.
Putting it All Together: Some Favourite No-Makeup Lipsticks
Personally, my favourite way to wear lipstick without other makeup right now is to go for the MLBB. It doesn’t have to be exactly MLBB, so long as the undertones are working for me, but I do like to make sure the shade is at least as deep as my natural lip colour so that I’m not washed out.
Here’s what I’m loving right now on my neutral (leaning cool) fair olive skin tone:
- L’Oreal – Colour Riche Intense Volume Matte – 113 “Le Nude Admirable”
- MAC – Matte Lipstick – “Mehr”
- Urban Decay – Vice Lipstick – “Backtalk”
- Maybelline – SuperStay Matte Ink – “Revolutionary” or “Lover”
And a couple of honourable mentions that I reach for because I love the formula:
- Charlotte Tilbury – Matte Revolution – “Pillow Talk”. It’s a touch warm on me so sometimes it looks funny (if I’m having a “leaning cool” day), and it doesn’t work if I have more redness going on, but on average I’d say it works.
- Charlotte Tilbury – Matte Revolution – “Very Victoria”. This one is cooler, but because it has some taupe in it I don’t love it when my dark circles are in full force. Nevertheless, it works on an average day.
As for bolds, I think they can really make a statement and they can get you feeling very “put-together” in only two swipes! I just haven’t been reaching for them a lot lately. I love the idea of it though, especially a punchy red without any other makeup – très chic. Please recommend me your favourite bold lipsticks!
Oh, a bonus tip on bolds if you’re not going for a statement lip – I love a blotted lip look without other makeup. I think it tosses a bit of whimsy into your look – maybe giving “casual elegance”?
Here’s what I used to love on myself when I was wearing bolder lips without other makeup:
- MAC – Satin Lipstick – “Rebel”
- I used to LOVE Bite Beauty – Luminous Creme – “Palomino”, but it’s long since discontinued. Glad I took photos!
- I have some reds on the docket to try, but I have not been feeling the red lip look lately so we are taking our time opening those. Way back in the day, I loved Lancome – L’Absolu Rouge – 132 “Caprice” on a bare face.
Lipstick Alternatives for Bare Face Days
If you’re looking for something other than lipstick to wear on those no-makeup days, I don’t think you can go wrong with stains or tinted balms! I think in this case, the matter of colour theory is still relevant, but stains are great if you just want to add some colour to your natural lips, and balms are great if you’re looking for hydration but don’t want to fuss with a bullet. Both can give a really lovely casual vibe!
That’s all I’ve got! Are you tempted to swipe on a lipstick on an otherwise makeup-free day?
Featured photo by Fausto García-Menéndez on Unsplash
