THE GOOD REDS...

I've noticed a lot of red lipstick moments happening lately. Maybe it's because a pop of red is the perfect hue to cheer you up on a winter's day (as long as you don't accessorize your lippy with a red nose and streaming red eyes.) As Mme Vreeland once said: "Red is the great clarifier - bright, cleansing, and revealing." It's also *in these troubled times* the much cheaper equivalent of a Chanel 2.55 bag - a classic, sound investment - but one that you don't have to feel too guilty about purchasing.

I found my perfect red; which is almost as much of a satisfyingly frivolous coup as finding a signature scent (which I always think I've found, then change my mind.) It's Saint Red by Lipstick Queen - a sheer, but bright red. It's the sheer part that makes it work I think. Most red lipsticks make me look like a goth or a waxwork dummy, but this one is just perfect. I've got brown hair, pale skin with a yellow undertone and grey/blue eyes and I'm going to daub it on an unsuspecting blonde, pale skinned/blue eyed friend who never wears red in just a minute because I reckon it'll work on her too.

{photo: crop from Vogue Paris November 08 Vanessa Paradis cover by Mert & Marcus}