Laws of the lips!

Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but lipstick runs a close second.

The right shade brightens up even the dullest outfit and takes years off your face. That said, let’s not forget how  a simple mistake can spell disaster. Listed below are some of the  common lipstick rules women tend to overlook. Forget not to run a close eye through these, before you cart your next shade.

1) Observe your skin tone:  Indian women with warmer undertones must settle for corals and reds with a yellowish tinge. If you have a dusky-medium skin tone, go for plums, browns and soft-muted pink.As a rule of thumb, pick dark lipstick on thin lips and light lipsticks on  fuller lips.

2) Applying outside the lip line: Ever considered lining the lipstick outside of your lips,to make lips look bigger? Don’t. No matter how many hacks to achieve the same are out there, it  exudes an unnatural cakey appeal. Instead, dab some  lip gloss on the centre of lip, to achieve fuller lips in a jiffy.

3) Lip liners of a darker hue: Nobody wants to sport a darker lip liner. But many tend to err.  If you are not sure about whether your lipstick and lip liner match, try this hack. Dab the lip liner inside your lips, after lining it with the same lip liner. Now, wear your lipstick on top of it. If it matches, you’ve found the right lip liner. If not, time to settle for a shade that does.

4) Lipstick on teeth: Over-application is the main cause of this horrendous result.  Always dab a tissue over the extra lipstick from your lips after application. Not moisturising your lips adequately could also be one of the factors, which leads to bleeding of lipsticks.

The writer is a Bengaluru-based make-up artiste and grooming expert.