Discover your color palette and your style type.

When It Comes to Lipstick, How Bright Is Too Bright?

12/4/2017

This is an interesting issue that Bright Spring and Bright Winter women often discuss -- whether the makeup can possibly be right, translated literally from the palette to the face.

Women draped as Bright sometimes say the colors feel too saturated on the face. If this is you, I think there are a couple of things possibly going on:

1. A given color might be right in clothing, but not on a person's face.

How far does a color have to be from red for it to no longer be a lip or cheek color? Bright Spring and Bright Winter have a lot of reds and pinks. They also have many purply pinks and orangey-reds. For some women, some of the pinks and reds are so close to purple or orange that they're no longer good as lippies (though they'd be fine as shirt colors, for example.) You can't wear every single palette color on your lips. Goodness knows not all True Autumns can wear pumpkin orange in a blush.

Could JLo wear this orange as a blush? Maybe not.

2. For some Brights, the intensity of the color just feels weird, even if it's objectively flattering.

This is often true for women who are totally new to the palette. If you're accustomed to wearing very muted lippies, the reds and pinks of Bright Spring and Bright Winter might feel odd to you. The only cure for this is time. As weeks and months go by, you'll slowly grow accustomed to your palette, and you'll come to see how natural these supposedly bright colors look on you.

An intimidatingly saturated palette, perhaps! But if you're a Bright, it's just right for you.

3. Unfortunately, some women draped as Bright aren't actually Bright.

Draping is an art, and analysts do get it wrong sometimes. If you're a Bright, your reds and pinks should look natural on your face. They shouldn't look startling.

In the tube, this pink is probably scary bright. But it looks just right on Ni Ni and Kerry Washington.

I hate to sow the seeds of doubt! I know we are all looking for peace of mind. But if your reds and pinks consistently jump out of your face, that's not color harmony.

4. Some colors are too bright for anyone to wear as a lippie.

The colors in your Bright Winter and Bright Spring palette aren't the brightest possible colors. There's a limit, it seems, to how saturated human coloring can get. There are definitely lippies for sale that are brighter than any Bright Spring or Bright Winter color. They won't look harmonious on anyone. (Color harmony isn't everyone's aesthetic.)

Not going for color harmony.

29 Comments

12/4/2017 01:23:30 pm

Hi Rachel--

Are you still planning on doing word associations for the rest of the style identities? I was really looking forward to those :). A lot of us find those posts very helpful.

Victoria

12/4/2017 01:33:39 pm

Great post! I might add that your style type can play a role here as well. I am a draped Bright Winter and an analyzed Soft Natural. I am definitely a BW, and very high contrast one at that. I have very fair skin, black hair, and brown eyes, lashes, eyebrows. My overall coloring is very dramatic and sometimes I just think that wearing super bright lipstick in addition looks overly fussy on me as a Natural. It might look perfect on Gamine, but less so on me. I strongly prefer eyeliner, mascara, some highlighter and a bit of light-colored gloss. I only wear strong lip colors when I am dressing up and that is what looks "right" for me. I often read how we winters need to "wear our lips" in order to round out our faces, balance our eyes or whatever. Interestingly, I once did a no-makeup selfie poll on our very large BW Facebook group and wouldn't you know...almost *every single* BW had quite pale, light, cool colored lips, almost a icy pink/purple. If our season represents our own natural coloring, I can see why a super saturated lip color might not make sense at times. Don't get me wrong, I love a bright red or berry lip when I am trying dressing up; but make no mistake, I look dressed up! A mild or icy gloss looks much more natural for every day, comfortable, like my SN nature prefers.

Mandy

12/5/2017 09:31:00 pm

I like this observation, it makes sense that a person's color season palette would need to take into account their style id since this all plays in together. I am a person that looks dreadful in bright or dramatic strong colors or darks so this increases the amount of ingénue I have. Conversely I should be, as a light spring, more favoring soft warm colors but I find I need a little more of the romantic colors in my palette than a light spring would normally wear since I have some romantic in my analysis. They do seem to effect one another, season and style type.

Mona

12/5/2017 02:48:28 am

Rachel, I don't find your word associations for different style identities very helpful. I wish you would write about physical traits, lines and so on for every archetype instead. I think that would be more helpful to someone who is trying to figure out her style ID.

Cathy

12/5/2017 09:47:07 pm

Yeah, some explanations of physical characteristics would be helpful. I found somewhere a test that shows the features for each of the seven archetypes, which matches my style Id calculator results when I break it down by what features I have in each category. It would be nice to understand what type of nose is ethereal, eyes, lips, etc. so you can type yourself or weed out certain ones easier with visuals to accompany the descriptions. Natural, for example, seems like a broad category so maybe a list of every type of nose, eyes, lips, face shape, etc that would be considered a natural feature would be good.

12/6/2017 04:25:50 am

Rachel's posts introducing each style type include short lists of the kind of facial features commonly found in each category--you can find these posts by following the links on each style ID's main page, or by selecting the Classic/Ethereal/what-have-you categories to the right of the main blog feed and scrolling through all the relevant posts. She does caution that it's less about whether your nose is Dramatic or Ingenue and more about the overall gestalt of your facial features. And in my own experience, trying to determine someone's style ID just by eyeballing their face, instead of putting different styles next to their face and seeing what harmonizes, doesn't always work. Sometimes this is because of your own preconceptions, and sometimes it's because there's a mix of two or three styles and the less dominant ones are harder to see. Classic seems to be particularly good at "hiding."

Alex

12/7/2017 11:08:07 am

Is that, in fact, how you determine style ID - by seeing what looks harmonious? (i.e., the same way you determine color season?) (Sorry if this is a really stupid question!)

Rachel

12/7/2017 01:55:22 pm

Alex -- yes, absolutely! It's the only thing that really works. Trying to determine Style ID with a list of features will often lead us astray. It's the gestalt, as KC says.

Of course, that gestalt is made up of the individual features, which may have qualities that are quantifiable. But no one yet has devised an accurate system to determine Style ID by assigning values to individual features. I don't think this would be impossible to do. But I think it would take a team of social scientists, a big population sample, a somewhat complicated study protocol, and someone to write a computer program. I'd love to lead that team! But alas, I don't have the resources.

12/10/2017 01:04:31 pm

I guess there’s always a few tells. I was watching a girl on youtube the other day and trying sooo hard to place her until I noticed she looks absolutely amazing and true to herself with her hair completely out of her face. That, to me, is a tell-tale sign of Classics.

12/11/2017 12:39:44 am

MW, are you sure she's not a Dramatic? Ds look good with their hair pulled back, but Classics usually look good in face-framing hairstyles. Of course, they also look good in formal updos, so I guess it depends on what you mean by hair completely out of the face.

Melina

1/21/2020 04:30:35 am

"Sometimes it's because there's a mix of two or three styles and the less dominant ones are harder to see. Classic seems to be particularly good at "hiding." - Ahh, so true! My experience totally confirms this, too - it took me long to realize I had C as my 4th essence, guess it was hiding behind the other 3.... (But no less important for that.)

12/7/2017 08:47:28 pm

I like the word association posts, but they're probably just confusing if you don't know your ID yet. Those posts are good for trying different vibes within your look, calibrating your ID to your personality, or testing if an item is good for your ID. It's easier to answer, "Is this bag whimsical? Spunky?" Than, "is this bag gamine?"

Caressa

12/5/2017 05:06:09 pm

Rachel, what are your thoughts regarding getting complimented on colors you're wearing? Christine Scaman has said that when people compliment your clothing or makeup, it's because either they're imagining themselves wearing it or because it's incongruent with your natural colors. I've noticed I only get compliments on my lipstick when it's pin-up red, shocking coral, or intense violet (even my tough-guy brothers liked that one), vs when I wear earthier colors (mauve, rose, brownish pinks). On one hand, it seems like those colors must look great if people are noticing, but maybe the lipstick is all they're seeing? I've got light golden ginger hair with dark blue-green eyes that photograph almost black, and I'm having a heck of a time sorting out my season (I've nixed Dark & Soft but that still leaves 8 contenders *sigh*).
What are your thoughts on compliments? (PS I LOVE your site, the photos you choose to illustrate color & style types are SO helpful!)

12/6/2017 06:52:17 am

Oh, that is fascinating! People often say that compliments mean a color IS right for you, but as you say, if the colors are really harmonious then they'll notice YOU, not your clothing. I recently wore a shirt that I think may not be right for me, and three people at work that day said some variation on, "What a great shirt!" - I think the shirt was wearing me.

OTOH, it's complicated, because people who aren't close friends or family may not feel comfortable saying, "You look lovely" - so they might compliment your clothes as a less-intimate way of complimenting you.

Rachel, I would love to hear your thoughts!

12/6/2017 03:26:01 pm

Hi, Caressa!

I agree with Christine that when someone says "I like your ____," they often mean "I notice your _______." Saying the second one is not a thing. So we say the first, whether or not we actually like the item in question.

I've worn only my beautiful Soft Autumn makeup for almost ten years now. I never, ever receive compliments on my makeup, even though I wear it pretty much every day. And I know I look lovely. :-) Early in our relationship, my man friend actually said to me, "You're so pretty without makeup." I told him, "I wear makeup. I'm wearing it now." He didn't believe me, LOL.

The same is true for my lines -- occasionally, if an acquaintance learns about Truth is Beauty, she'll compliment me on my style, as if she's suddenly making a connection: "You DO always look great!" But I almost never receive unsolicited compliments on individual garments. And I think my garments are pretty awesome. But they don't precede me, if you know what I mean.

All of this is to say that when we look like our beautiful selves, it comes across as so right and so natural that no comment occurs to a viewer. They see us, not our makeup and not our clothes.

12/6/2017 06:53:00 pm

Thank you Rachel, the "I notice your ___" makes so much sense without making ALL compliments seem negative. And like you, I wear makeup every day (mascara, blush, lips) but it's only when I go dark, smoky, or bright that my co-workers exclaim "You're wearing makeup today!"

This actually REALLY helps me narrow down my season, if I recall when I didn't get any comments (either singling out an item, or asking if I was tired/sick)...light to medium value, not too saturated or too soft, nothing too warm or too cool...so maybe Light Spring or Light Summer?

Thank you so much for your response and explanation, I really appreciate it! And I'll remind myself that not having my new outfit or lipstick noticed may just be the best compliment of all :)

Liz

12/7/2017 12:53:21 am

Ah, I want to believe that there are exceptions to this! I'm a bright winter, and people have told me before when I wear red or hot pink, that it's "my color." The other day I wore red lipstick, and one of my coworkers said, "I like your lipstick, it's nice." I have very large lips and it was a very bright red--do you think bright winters might sometimes encounter exceptions to the rule that when people compliment us, they're actually indicating that what we're wearing doesn't go with our coloring? I think it's possible that because bright winter's colors are so bright, people sometimes notice them even when they look "right."

12/7/2017 02:01:53 pm

Liz, this is a tough one for me to answer. It may be that Brights are inherently more attention-getting, because they're bright relative to the boring background of daily life. So maybe if you're a Bright standing in a dull room with a bunch of Softs, your lippie or your sweater will stand out. Brights shouldn't look bright relative to themselves, though. I'm thinking of a close friend who's a Bright Winter and a Dramatic Gamine. I can't remember hearing her receive a compliment from anyone besides me. (Of course, I notice her killing it all the time!) I think, to everyone else, she just looks like herself. Take this with a grain of salt, though. I know many Brights, but I don't live life as a Bright.

Nancy

12/7/2017 02:27:46 am

Rachel, I agree with Mona and Cathy. Some explanations of physical characteristics of the archetypes would be helpful. Could you also write about different combinations?

12/7/2017 11:05:32 am

I've been wondering if I might be a Bright Winter rather than a Deep Winter. One reason I hadn't really considered Bright as a possibility is that the don't like the way I look in any visible lipstick, to say nothing of Bright lipstick. But...my eyes are very bright, and bright colors seem to bring out my eyes. (I often get compliments in bright colors, which obviously might mean people are noticing the color, not me - but what people often say is, "That color brings out your eyes.") So maybe I actually am a Bright?

As a Natural, I prefer to have no visible make-up. (I don't wear make-up at all if I can avoid it, and only wear blush if I'm looking particularly pale.) All the Winter lipstick colors are obviously lipstick - even if they look harmonious, they're still obviously not the person's natural color - no one has bright red lips! So should Natural Winters simply not wear lipstick?

12/7/2017 08:44:14 pm

I think there are reds that look natural especially on those color Id's. Finish is important. No one has matte, full saturated red lips, but a sheered out red can look like your natural lips just had a makeout session.

Rachel had a post a while ago about colors sometimes enhancing your eyes but not working for you overall. Maybe it's worth a look!

12/7/2017 09:38:27 pm

Hi Alex--

I would think that a Natural could still pull off an MLBB (My Lip But Better) lipstick, if you have your seasonal palette and can determine what that is. You can also try the company EleaBlake, they're great about individualizing makeup. You could also try something that deposits a lighter application of color, like a gloss or tinted lip balm.

12/8/2017 02:12:22 am

Hi Alex!
I'm the Soft Natural BW who posted above and 90% of the time I rotate between two Honest Beauty lip glosses- Generous Kiss and Dreamy Kiss. I doubt either would swatch as BW per se, but Dreamy kiss is a sheer nude, just warmer than clear which works for me. Generous Kiss is a sheer, pink nude which happens to basically be my exact lip color, just a bit darker and more defined. W3ll People makes a really nice sort of shimmery gold gloss that is very subtle and Buxom makes a few icy pinks that are perfect. I have noticed that when I wear lipstick I get a lot of compliments on it, but I tend to think that means it's wearing me. When I wear gloss, I just get compliments about how nice I look in general, which I think means it suits me better. Like they actually see me, not the lippie. Being a BW Natural can be challenging in the makeup dept. I can't really wear foundation either because it looks like a mask. But- I find that if a I just have nice skin, some mascara, gloss, maybe add bit of highlighter, or tightline my upper lashes, I look like the best version of myself, without looking "done up." I hope some of that was helpful. Good luck to you! :)
-Victoria-

12/9/2017 10:41:04 am

That is very helpful! Thank you, Victoria!

One difficulty I have is that my skin is so light and almost translucent that it seems to change color a lot. I blush easily, and get flushed with exercise easily. But if I'm tired or stressed, then I look deathly pale no matter what I'm wearing. The same color that looks terrific one day looks terrible the next. *Sigh*

12/9/2017 09:58:06 pm

Haha, same! Very pale olive, translucent skin that changes from day to day and tans like crazy in the sun. I have seen a few nice taupe eyeshadows work for BWs, but I don't believe I've seen anyone in the group wear taupe clothing...ever! I'm sure the Corporate Fan (which has more neutrals) might have a version of BW taupe, but I suspect it reads as mostly grey or grey with a drop of red...

12/9/2017 02:09:06 pm

One other question - sorry! - why is taupe listed as a Clear color? It's a mix of grey and brown, so isn't it actually the muddiest possible color? I look good in a clear chocolate brown, and I look good in clear grey, but add a bit of either to the other and I look like the undead...

Kristin

12/8/2017 03:49:37 am

Great article. I was draped as a Bright Spring and have always found the makeup to be challenging. The fact that the colors seem to look good in clothing suggests that the analyst was on to something, though I guess I'll never know for sure if my draping was correct. Just like we know from common sense that bright green is not a credible lip color even though it could be a great blouse color, we need to extend same reason to some of those pinks and reds. As you pointed out, it could work as a clothing color, but not for makeup. I wish my analyst had discussed that possibility more. I think this is especially an issue for brights, where most of our colors just aren't credible as "flesh tone" colors.

Helen

12/12/2017 02:37:43 pm

Good article :) I went to be re draped as while I liked the light spring clothes, the lipstick just never, never worked. It never looked right or part of my face, and it either turned grey or in the case of most of the pinks looked weird. Bright spring lipstick does. It was the red tones I needed, and where I bought light spring after light spring lippie in hopes of eventually finding one that would work, I have about four Bright Spring lipsticks and I'm done. Every one works.

Since I really like a natural look though, and I'm an ethereal type so natural is most harmonic, the most useful advice I ever found was your article here about match your lips on the fan, then look for shades within a grade or two of that. There really are natural shades for everyone, even brights. So thank you for that!

1/21/2020 04:33:08 am

Helen, your experience seems to re-confirm my thought, that lipsticks may indeed be better for confirming (or conversely, ruling out) a season than usually admitted! ;)

Truth is Beauty

When It Comes to Lipstick, How Bright Is Too Bright?

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