Affiliate Links
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| L.A. Girl Matte Lipstick in Snuggle, NudeStix Magnetic Matte in Greystone, and Maybelline ColorSensational Maple Kiss |
We've been in the midst of a 90s retro revival (sometimes 70s-via-90s) in fashion and beauty for a few years now, for better or for worse. The rule I've heard a lot about wearing throwback trends is that if you wore it the first time around, you shouldn't wear it when it comes back. That rings pretty true to me, I suppose, but then that's probably because the things I wore as a teenager aren't exactly coming back as styles that suit suit my 35-year-old self. Not that I am advocating some amorphous age-appropriateness rule here. I'm just saying that the things
I wore as a teenager are not things that
I want to wear as an adult. If you'd like to borrow my wide-leg carpenter khakis or my gold cross chokers or my white eyeliner, they are probably still stored away somewhere in my parents' attic. I think, however, that if you follow that trend rule too strictly, you can end up stuck in a rut because you avoid updating your look at all for fear of looking ridiculous. I'm trying to find my place in the space between.
So while not long ago the thought of reviving trends from my high school years would have brought to mind this, of which I long ago cycled past acceptance and into rejection:
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| I just watched Buffy again earlier this year, and her makeup is usually much better than this. |
I'm now used to seeing similar colors and textures made modern and fresh and appealing. (I'm also super into the shimmery and metallic lipsticks we're getting after years of matte everything--more on that another time!) I used to think that I just can't do brown lipsticks (
witness my lack of success with the Bite Beauty Multisticks). Part of the problem is that brown lipsticks, perhaps more than most colors other than red, are finnicky, and you might have to try a whole bunch of options before you find the one that's right for you. When I decided to try the whole brown lipstick thing again, I remembered that I had one stuck in a reject drawer:
Maybelline Maple Kiss. Hooray for hoarding! When I tried on
Maple Kiss again (see below), my first thought was, "Wow, this actually looks great!" My second thought was, "Wait, am I just being brainwashed by trends?" But on further reflection, I don't think that's exactly what's happening. In 2014, you would be hard pressed to find warm brown lipsticks being presented in an updated, attractive way. In 2017, those images are everywhere.
If you've watched TV in the last six months or so, you've seen this. For example, Jess from
New Girl, who typically wore reddish or rosy lipsticks in the past shifted to a more orangey-brown family in the last season.
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| Peach? Sienna? Terracotta? Clay? Whatever. |
The more exposure we have to new things presented in aesthetically pleasing ways, the more we can come to appreciate them as beautiful. (If you are trying to work on body acceptance, it can work in a similar way. The more beautiful images of bodies of all shapes and sizes you're exposed to, the more you'll train yourself to find them attractive--or you'll suddenly realize it's happened without any effort.)
Brown has been happening for a while, but I largely avoided the corpsey greige lips of the last few years, while admiring them, because they felt like too much of a high-maintenance statement look for my preferences. I have a handful of brownish lipsticks at this point, but I'm looking at three of them here that represent different takes on the latest version of the look, which I think are both current and easily wearable. This is my personal test of whether or not I want to wear brown lipstick (spoiler: yes), and if so, what version I like best.
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| Swatches of L.A. Girl Matte Lipstick in Snuggle, NudeStix Magnetic Matte in Greystone, and Maybelline ColorSensational Maple Kiss |
The three lipsticks pictured above fall into three categories: brownish nude, true brown, and warm/terracotta brown.
