I have always said there’s a perfect red lipstick for every colouring, but not necessarily one for every disposition. I’ve had cause to reconsider. The new sheer, barely-there reds take the boldest, most classic of makeup looks and make it muted and unselfconsciously wearable by even the faint-hearted.
double quotation markIt’s designed to appear like a regular lipstick that’s been blotted with a tissue to make it soft, subtle and slightly blurry
Merit’s entire brand is about understated makeup for the aesthetically cool, time-poor woman. Naturally, they’ve made her the perfect no-effort red. The new Signature Lip Blush (£25), a soft, very comfortable lip balm with a natural matt finish, is probably Merit’s cleverest formula to date. And with Kitten Heel, a classic, sheer, tomatoey red, it manages to make bold colour look as subtle as a nude. It’s so pretty and face-brightening without pulling focus that even the colour-shy will feel inconspicuous.
Carolyn Bessette’s chic, minimal aesthetic caused beauty fans in the 1990s to source her most -worn lipsticks. Photograph: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
The muted red trend went viral when Disney+ dropped Love Story, the tragic and simultaneously lightweight story of Carolyn Bessette and John F Kennedy Jr’s relationship – now its most streamed series of all time.
The real Bessette’s chic, minimal aesthetic caused me and every other beauty fan to source her signature beauty products from the 1990s. These include her most-worn evening lipsticks, FACE Stockholm’s sheer, semi-matt, brownish-red Cranberry Veil (sold out for weeks and now rationed to a maximum of five units a customer; £20), and Bobbi Brown’s deeper toned Crushed Lipcolour in Ruby (same deep, flattering shade in a sheerer, slightly shinier reformulation of Bessette’s original; £29).
Rather than pay the customs duties on Cranberry Veil, try Glossier’s Generation G Lipstick in Zip (£20), a translucent toffee-apple red, designed to give the instant appearance of having applied a regular lipstick and blotted it several times with a tissue to make it soft, subtle and slightly blurry.
This classically French way of wearing lipstick inspired makeup artist Violette to create Bisou Balm (£31) for her eponymous brand. Amour Fou applies and feels like a moisturising balm, but on the lips looks more like the natural flush left by a lengthy snog.
The joy of all of these sheer reds is that they look best alongside little or no eyeshadow and a matching, perky-looking cream blush smooshed on lazily with fingertips.
And if you can’t help but sharpen that blurry lipline with a pencil, maintain the pared-back feel with a nude, rather than red, liner pencil. Try MAC’s Cool Spice (£20), the 90s shade known then as Spice, when Bessette wore it.