At last! The moment I’ve been waiting years for has finally arrived! No, Doritos have not been declared a nutritional supplement. Even better: dark lips are finally in again.
Inspired perhaps by the recent cultural infestation of vampires, New York Fashion Week is teaming with seductive, sultry, heavily-pigmented pouts. And I couldn’t be more pleased.
In celebration of the return of the femme fatale look, I present to you some of my favorite dark lipcolors for fall:
NARS Gothika: This one has been around forever, and has become a classic NARS color. Despite the intense-sounding name, this lip gloss is actually very modest-looking, and tends to flatter almost everyone. Sheer plum with pink undertones and just the slightest bit of gold shimmer, Gothika is a great way to ease yourself out of the nudes we’ve worn for ages now and dip into darker shades. This is also a great wear-anytime lip color.
Aveda Hot Pepper: This is another good one for the as-yet uninitiated vixen. With Hot Pepper, Aveda took the boldness of a true red lipstick, and added gold overtones which somehow makes this color vibrant but utterly wearable. It’s almost like flying under the radar while still standing out. OK, that didn’t make a lick of sense. But it’s a great color and works with most complexions. I also love the minty taste and feel Aveda adds to their lipsticks.
Benefit Ms. Behavin: This is a recent addition to my dark-color cache, and I love it. And to add some truly vampish street cred, apparently this is the color that actor Robert Pattinson wore in the film Twilight while playing Edward Cullen. This lipstick is from Benefit’s Silky Finish Lipstick line, and is a buildable color. This means that the plum-y, mulberry color goes on fairly sheer to begin with, and you can continue swiping to go as deep as you dare.
Laura Mercier Mulberry Lip Stain: This gorgeous color looks like a stain but wears like a gloss. It’s deep brick-red with a hint of sheen, which looks rich and incredibly sophisticated. I don’t love that it comes in a pot, because I’m usually too lazy to fiddle with brushes for lip color. But for this one I’m ready to make an exception. To wear such a grown-up color, I guess I’ll need to behave like a grown-up… At least in terms of applying my makeup.
NARS Victoire: Another knockout from the good folks at NARS. Surprisingly opaque for a gloss, this color is not for the faint of heart. A deep, dark mix of brown and brick red, this is a nighttime color – especially if you’re not planning on doing much sleeping.





