By Janness Koh

Chinese New Year is this week and as most people know, red is considered the most auspicious colour among Chinese and you got to have red in your outfit or anything and everything red during this period. Many young people like myself don’t really like to wear red or at least not the right in your face angbao kind of look that older generations like.

If you are like me who likes wearing darker colours or all black during Chinese New Year, wearing a simple makeup with red or bright pink lipstick makes the look classy and also hey you’ve got some red going on without looking obnoxious 😉

Also, don’t think that you can only wear loud lip colours with black. As shown in my swatches, everything goes well with the royal blue I’m wearing too!

Being a makeup junkie, especially lip products and also doing professional makeup on the side, I’ve my few top recommendations for red or bright pink lipsticks that not only has good formulas, wear time, complements Asian skin tones, and not over the top in price. These are my personal favourites, some unsung heroes and not the usual cult favourites like M.A.C Ruby Woo most people will think of. I wish to see more Asians wearing brighter colour lipsticks, it’s about finding the right colour that suits your skin tone and it isn’t that intimidating at all.

Also, in case you are curious why not much drugstore brands are mentioned like L’Oréal or Maybelline even though they have some pretty awesome options. That’s because these brand in Singapore are twice as much as what you pay for in USA and yet most of the products are made in China, so I typically don’t find the worth in spending my money on these brands here. You can check out Revlon, Bourjois, and Rimmel or even Essence and Catrice for cheaper alternatives. Sephora has tons of brands available too if you are up to some splurge.

Pro tips:

• To make any lipstick last longer, use a lipliner underneath and blot with tissue in between lipstick applications.
• Go for a matte finish if possible or you can make them matte. Apply lipstick, place a thin sheet of tissue on lips and dust loose powder over followed by another application.
• Tidy up the lip edges with concealer using a small brush to create a clean perfect line
• When in doubt, just go for Sephora’s cream lip stain in 01 Always Red, my favourite of all and it suits all skin tones.