How weird is liptick w/o other makeup?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

I’ve been told by many that I look good in cherry red lipstick, and I have to agree. However, I usually reserve this for dressier evenings, like going out with friends, when I’ll wear a bit of makeup and nicer clothes.

I just like the way I look in lipstick. But my normal attire is band t-shirt, usually black; dark jeans; flip-flops or Converse. Very low-maintenance.

Would I look like an idiot in bright red lipstick, no other makeup, and jeans and a t-shirt? I know girls can get away with a little eyeliner, mascara, or lip gloss and casual clothes, but lipstick (particularly such a bright shade) is considering inherently dressy, isn’t it? I am fairly ignorant of fashion faux pas and the like.

#2

I’d think it would look strange,. But on the other hand, I think lipstick almost always looks odd (especially bright colors like red or blue), which is why I rarely wear lipstick myself. I don’t think it would look odder than it does with other makeup, though.

#3

I also think it would look a little funny, but it’s all about how you feel you look in it. Try putting on just the lipstick when you’re dressed casually, and see how you like the look of it. Ask the friends you hang out with if it looks weird.

If I wanted to wear a striking lipstick (which I don’t usually - I stick to sheer glossy stuff) I’d probably at least put on eyeliner and mascara to balance it out. Nothing too dramatic - that’s what the lips are for.

#4

Maybe instead of lipstick you could stick with a light lip gloss with a hint of color. Then it wouldn’t look unbalanced. I’m thinking that highlighting one area with a bold lipstick my have the effect of washing out the rest of your face unless you have particularly intense eyes.

#5

I don’t think lipstick without other makeup is weird. On the other hand, when I do that I usually wear lipstick which is just slightly more pink/mauve/glossy than my actual lipcolor.

(Then again, even if I put on more makeup, I still like lipstick which is just different enough from my natural color to make it worth the effort, not something striking like cherry-red. So, I can’t advise you on your preferences).

#6

I’m a huge fan of lipstick! I’m not big into much other make-up. I wear just lipstick most of the time. I usually wear a bright color if I’m going out. I think that wearing just lipstick (with maybe a hint of eyeliner) gives the illusion of being more made up than one really is.

#7

I have a friend who wears just lipstick, and she always wears it (and refreshes it at some regular interval, like every 45 minutes or so, apparently without thinking about it).

She’s a natural beauty though, darkhaired, doesn’t really need other makeup.

Her opposite is a woman I used to work with who was a natural very light blonde, whose only makeup was red lipstick. She took some getting used to. My first thought on seeing her was always that she needed a couple of coats of mascara, at least.

I always used to wear mascara, if nothing else. This has been such a bad summer for me allergy-wise that I have started wearing just lipstick (cause the mascara is gonna run sooner or later, often leaving me with makeup on one eye but not the other), and it’s finally beginning to look normal to me. Coral most of the time, bright red at night or if I’m wearing red.

ETA: Blue lipstick? Wouldn’t that make you look hypothermic? Or dead? I am reminded of the lipstick of the late '60s. White lipstick, which went with really made-up eyes. This look didn’t last long. But while it was around, people who wore red lipstick looked really old-fashioned to me!

#8

I second the suggestion to go with a gloss during the day. You can still get a cherry red but a gloss will have less pigment so look less harsh in the daylight.

#9

Take a look and see what you think.

#10

I’m guessing by the band t-shirt/jeans thing you are a bit more of a “rocker chick?” If so, then I think you could pull it off.

So how you doin’ ?

#11

Am I really going to be the first person in this thread to suggest posting “with” and “without” pictures? :wink:

#12

I’d like it, but I am a sucker for sexy lipstick. :wink:

That being said, Burt Bees has Tinted lip protectant, in a variety of subtle colors.

In any case, you wouldn’t stand out.

#13

I don’t think of red lipstick as dressy but I think of it as sexy. I think you have to kind of gauge where your jeans and t-shirt are on the spectrum of boyish to sexy and look at yourself in the full length and ask yourself if it clashes.*

I don’t think you need other makeup at all with red lipstick as long as it doesn’t make your complexion look bad, which I assume it doesn’t or you wouldn’t think you look prettier in it. I love the look of just lipstick. I think it looks very confident, like, “I don’t need makeup but I enjoy a good lipstick now and then.”

*ETA: as in “does my head look like it’s on the wrong body?”

#14

I would say that it depends on the color & your face …

Having been born with lips that would make Lisa Rinna take a step back & say “maybe those are a little too big,” I can’t. If I wear lipstick, I absolutely must wear eye makeup to balance it out - otherwise all you can see are lips.

But if you can get away with it - why not?

#15

Heh. When it was just the lips alone, I thought, “Okay.” But when I saw the whole face it was more like, “Oooh, she just had herself a blue Sno-Cone!”

#16

I always wear lipstick and no other makeup, but I do get my eyelashes tinted every now and then, and my lipstick color choices are fairly subtle (I’m a dishwater blonde with fair complexion.)
If it’s a big night out on the town, I might add mascara or even a bit of eyeliner.
What can I say–I came of age in the 70’s and never wore lipstick at all until I hit 40.

#17

If you’ve got a tick in your lip, I don’t think makeup is going to help much.

#18

Not feelin’ this. May look good on Halloween with silver face paint.

#19

Here is a pic of me in lipstick. I’m on the right. It was my birthday, so I was a bit more dressed up and am probably wearing eyeliner and mascara.

Here is a pic of me in just lip gloss, which is what I’d wear normally because I have a compulsive problem with picking at my chapped lips. My hair is now black and earlobe-length, so neither of these hairstyles are current.

“Rocker chick” would be a good description of my style, I wear fitted jeans and t-shirts so I don’t think I look like a complete slob most of the time.

#20

You have large, pretty eyes, which are striking, so I think wearing just lipstick would be fine, especially if your hair is darker now.

My mother only ever wore lipstick–I think it was more common in her generation. (She’d have been 70 this year.)