We Found That Perfect “Barely-There” Lip Combo And The Color Will HORRIFY You
Breathe deep. This is going to be rough.
by Audie Metcalf
We are all on a perpetual hunt for this elusive lip color, yes?
That magic color that doesn’t showcase our newly appearing vertical lines and ever-shrinking upper lip? But also miraculously doesn’t look too orange too pink too brown because we don’t actually want to look as though we are “wearing lipstick” but rather that we have pretty, juicy lips that may or may not have recently licked the remains of some lightly glistening frosting from a freshly-used spatula?
Perhaps I went too far with the frosting thing but I KNOW you guys were with me up until then.
And friends? Comrades? Women of earth? I HAVE FOUND IT.
It turns out, the lovely, barely-there color we’ve been searching for for half our lives doesn’t come in the form of anything called “nude” or “spice” or “your lips but better” shade.
No it does not.
The elusive color we have never once thought about, but is actually the answer to every, single lip-dream we’ve had in adulthood is….
lavender.
WHAT.
HOW.
WHY.
To illustrate this shocking discovery, let’s first begin with a more traditional “nude” lip with a very typical nude liner, a “your lips but better” sheer lipstick, and a sheer pinky-brown gloss. All the colors you already own and sort of like but clearly not enough since you clicked into this article. I’m not naming brands or linking out to anything because that would be hideously untoward:
Lipsticky. Not natural at all. Gloopy. Makes me feel 87 years old. Bad.
Overall score? C-.
The weird thing is, all those colors make perfect sense. They are in fact the color of many lips. Pinkish. Brownish. Orangish.
So now let’s move onto the color you’d never choose in 17 million years if left to your own devices, but which is actually the color you’re looking for.
Let’s dip a toe into it in the scariest way possible which is to show you the products themselves which you will hate:
I would never choose these either. Purple!?! Get serious. Am I doing lipstick on a cadaver? Insanity. I know this. But stay with me.
Now let’s look at the lipstick and the gloss swatches on my hand:
Less terrifying. Still not anything that would call out to me. I would imagine you’re feeling the same.
But now…let’s look at it on a real human person with real human lips:
Enlivening! Apres ski! Fresh! Not lipsticky! Teeth-whitening! Lip lines imperceptible! Upper lip juicy! Subtle glint of aforementioned frosting concept that you hated!
Please tell me you see it. You see it, right? It doesn’t look purplish per see, it just looks plump and juicy and sheer. You’ll also notice that there is zero lip liner because in my humble (but correct) opinion, once we are marching steadily toward 45-50, the natural dryness of our lips does not take kindly to pencils, even soft ones, and so I allow the gloss to do some of the heavy lifting here, and because it’s so sheer, nothing seems overdone or overlined.
The lipstick is Keep Cool by Chanel. And the gloss is Gummy Bear (!!!) by Laneige. And that combo is a real Odd Couple situation I know. But the cool, icy tones of the Chanel (along with its amazing staying power) under that almost popsicle-glow of the (deeply hydrating and not sticky) gloss, is a real combo from the heavens.
We are nothing if not high/low, aren’t we?
And if you click in to either, be sure you select the correct color cause websites have a way of defaulting to the wrong shade, and this combination must be exact.
Let’s compare the two looks in a side-by-side to underscore how this unexpected lavender color is MAGICAL at brightening the face, while the typical nude on the right makes my face look puffy and slightly like my own dead grandmother:
And so, in conclusion, you really can’t judge a book by its cover with makeup. But more importantly, if a low-key, softening, juicy, youthifying (not a word) lip routine has been calling to you as a goal for 2024 and beyond, allow me to submit this lavender duo as exhibit A.
Laneige Lip Glowy Balm in Gummy Bear
Price: $19
Chanel Rouge Coco Balme in Keep Cool
Price: $45
And for those of you who cannot POSSIBLY create a nudeish lip without a liner, THIS is hands down the most moisturizing lipliner for mature skin, and it comes in the most not-orange, not-brown MAUVE which essentially just makes your lips look more defined without looking like you’re wearing lipliner at all. See? Again with the lavender tones. It’s wild. Why is no one talking about this?
Jones Road The Lip Pencil
Price: $22
P.S. And here’s a little bonus photo for the 4 of you who read til the end to see exactly what this color looks like in bright, punishing, direct sun.
Audie Metcalf is the Editor-in-chief of The Candidly, and lives in LA with her family. You can find more of her articles here.
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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