Women with a nice shaped mouth with a bit of volume look stunning in red lipstick. In my opinion women with smaller lips like mine do not. You also need nice white teeth. I love the look that was worn back in the day when little makeup was applied elsewhere and the lips were the focus. I wish I could pull that off because it looks so glamorous.

I think it's a great look on (I hate to say it) younger women - especially if they have flawless skin and a beautifully shaped mouth. My teeth are white enough, but red-red liptstick always makes me feel self-conscious about my skin imperfections and wrinkles! I feel like I'm trying to look like someone I'm just not.

What I wish for ...

What I feel like instead ...
{{gwi:1525877}}

I do like a lipstick with a deeper muted red tone to it, and it works best for me if it also has a slightly blue undertone. As for those red-red tones, maybe all it truly takes is enough self-confidence to effectively pull it off. I know I don't have enough of what it takes.

Bwahahhahaha. Too funny SunnyCottage, definitely agree with everything you posted!

Awesome visuals Sunny. Pretty much sums up how I feel. Except that every few years I think that I can pull it off. I think that I'll just save that second picture to remind myself why I can't. ;)

I so agree with all the points Sunny made. The visual aids speak volumes too! Still, most of us are flattered by the color red, even in our "advancing" years, lol! At holiday time the color often finds it way into our dresses, scarves & sweaters. So, we need a little red on our lips too!

That's the key...a *little* red lip rouge goes a long way over age 40. Apply sparingly. Just put a dab on your lower lip and blend. Then, apply just a smidge of clear gloss. Matte red lips are very aging and very June Cleaver-ish!

Your face is now brightend up and your makeup is coordinated with your outfit, but you don't look over-done.

I feel your pain !! and I agree with SunnyCottage. I cringe when I see some of my 60 and over friends arrive at a party or gathering with bright red or fuschia
lipstick. I look for brownish pinks or colours that look like my vision of ideal luscious natural lips would be. I bought a medium bright pink recently and when I have a bit of a tan, it looks nice.

This is about as red as I dare go - and I guess it's really more of a deep rose. It's Revlon Rose Berry 225, my current fave.

I like that !!

How I envy those who can pull off red lipstick! Flawless, as well as fair skin, seem to go hand-in-hand with wearing it well. And I hate to admit it, but age is a big factor.

Like Sunny, I stick to a rose shade, but would love to find a shade of coral that could 'enhance' my looks, not detract. All pinks turn a despicable purple on me, and a nude shade leaves me looking as though i've called out of a cemetary, same with brownish tones.

Usually I apply a lip pencil, and wipe most of it off leaving just a tinge. Go figure. ;o)

SC, that looks just like Lancome Champagne. I like it because it's not overwhelming. btw....that pic of the older woman looks like the one I sent to you of me except she isn't smiling and doesn't have a smudge of lipstick on her tooth :-)

It certainly was easier to look "natural" when we were younger.

I hardly ever wear lipstick because I can never find a flattering shade. If I wear one that is too bright it draws attention to my jaw area and my crepey neck. I do best with a tinted lip gloss. My one friend has a lipstick shad that looks great on her and really livens up her face. She also has pretty blue eyes and the lipstick sets them off nicely. For my hazel eyes, it just doesn't do the same.

OMG, that just made my day . . . I have tears running down my face from laughing, Jen!

It might be worth going to a real makeup place to see what they say is the right red for you. A year or two back I needed some blush and I went to a Blue Mercury store in Princeton, NJ. The blush the make up artist recommended wasn't one I would EVER have picked. I thought she must be nuts because the blush looked neon pink in the display. Well, it was perfect on. I got the blush from Blue Mercury but for refills found a less costly brand in the same crazy color. Probably there's a good red for everyone, or maybe you need the color as a stain or a gloss instead of a lipstick. Sometimes places like Ulta and Sephora have special make over events although my experience there is that the make up "artists" are really just inexperienced salesgirls and they don't really do anything that great.

Hmmm, I do wear red lipstick, but as I've aged, it's become more of a stain/clear red and not matte at all.
My favorite for the past two years is from the Balm and the color Wanted.

Every single time I go with a lighter or nude lip, I have someone ask me if I felt ok! So, I go with at least my natural color or deeper.

Approaching fifty, I am trying to be very opened minded about what makes older women look young and hip, and usually, red ain't it.

I have a little basket full of lipsticks & glosses, but my "go-to" lipcolor every day is Clinique's Blackberry Bloom lip gloss. It's an easy to wear plummy shade. I don't glop it on though...just use a bit! Still feel red worn *sparingly* has a place in every woman's lipstick wardrobe!

Sunny you made me laugh out loud, that was sooo funny. I can wear a bright pink with blue undertones as I have very white skin and it suits me but put red on me and it looks like a vampire is leaving the house lol.

I don't like red on anyone really. I do think the red becomes the focus even on beautiful young faces, rather than having the focus on the whole look. Of course, this is coming from someone who has never really worn any color on her lips since I have enough natural color and lipstick never really worked unless I covered my lips with foundation which I don't wear either, so then I would...oh well...if you give a moose a muffin sort of sequence ensues... ;)

Love the pictures, though, Jen!

I'm like cyn, I don't usually wear lipstick, primarily because I'd rather play up my eyes instead. My lips are still on the fairly plumpish side, and have good color, so any lipstick, to me, feels weird. When i DO wear it, it's a lighter purply-brown, close to my natural lip color.

I've always wanted to wear red lipstick, but it just does not work for me. My skin is too freckled to pull it off. But I ADORE it on Taylor Swift.

Funny picture, Sunny. Reminded me of my cousin's grandmother who ignored her lip line and just went straight across.

I bought some new eyeliner last week and didn't like how it looked, so I went on you tube and did a search for makeup for older women. Check it out. There are some good tips on there.

I have a friend who used to wear bright red lipstick and it looked awesome. She had jet black hair, cameo complexion, full, well shaped lips. She had a beautiful red coat also. AS Julia Roberts said on Steel Magnolias, it was "her signature color",

I have noticed now that she is older with salt and pepper hair, she wears a more muted lipstick.

I have a red lipstick from Nars (can't remember the name of it, of course, but it's a clear red-red, not mauvey or pinky) that I use just as Stinky described. Dab on a bit, then add some cherry chapstick and smoosh it all around. Is that too technical? Problem is, it doesn't last. I wish there was the equivalent of hair spray for lip color!

My go-to is a more earthy maroon-ish hue, and again I can't wear it full-strength or I feel like I look strange. On the other hand, I have found that as I've aged (I'm 48) I've lost a lot of color in my lips, so if I go out with nothing on my lips, I look monochromatic!

Honestly, on a typical day, the lip color I use most is Bonne Bell Dr. Pepper. How embarrassing. But it has just a little color and I don't have to check it in the mirror!

Haha, me too, Sue, but I much prefer cherry flavor. I have those stashed everywhere!

To be honest, I'm not really crazy about red lipstick on anyone. Taylor looks beautiful in the picture above, but it looks like very formal attire. To me, red lipstick is for more dressy occasiona and a person wearing it looks more "made up", if that makes sense.

When I've gone to make-up counters for the demos, etc. they will often try to put red lipstick on me. I suppose because of my dark hair and fair complexion. It's just not me!! I do like a fairly bright lipstick - works best on me, but as others mentioned, not full strength color. I prefer lipglosses, stains or semi-lipsticks. The Clinique that Stinky mentioned is great. I prefer more of a deep pink or rose color on me. No browns, bronze or even some burgandies - looks awful on me

tina

I agree that I don't care for it on anyone. The picture of Taylor is beautiful but if I saw her walking down the street irl w/that red...hmmmm, I dunnno....not sure I'd love it.

Many red lipsticks can be blotted down to a stain then glossed. That's a nice daytime look without the harshness of matte red.