How to wear black lip gloss in unexpected ways
I was in London's Selfridges, and the super-posh department store rolled out the red carpet (really-they had a red carpet in the lobby) for at a massive in-store event for makeup artist Aaron de Mey, Lancôme's Artistic Director. (Check out what he has in store for Lancome pretty pink spring collection.)
People in the store were gawking at De Mey, who looked like an absolute rock star-slash-street-urchin. He touched up models-and even lucky customers-with Color Fever Gloss in Piha Black ($25) in hand.
I was transfixed, too, but mostly because he used the lip gloss on the girls' eyelids. I had to ask him if he honestly was telling customers to do what he did.
"Oh, but you shouldn't think of it as a lip gloss," he said to me, looking equal parts wounded and concerned. "It's a tool."
Three ways to wear black lipstick---on your lips.
De Mey revealed that he created Piha Black for several reasons:
One, it instantly deepens any lip color (without making it look black).
Two, it looks killer on its own.
Three-and this is the dearest to his heart-because he wanted to replicate Marlene Dietrich's lids, which were always so glossy and smoky in those Old Hollywood glamour shots and films. "I was obsessed with them," he said.
"She used to burn cork, and mix the carbon with petroleum jelly," he says (a tip he picked up from a Dietrich bio). "No mixture of black eye shadow and Vaseline can create that look-I've tried-so as soon as I got to Lancôme, I created a gloss that perfectly mimics the effect."
Just tap a bit on your lids and smudge it with your fingertip. Less is usually always more, but especially when it comes to black lip gloss on your lids.
Perfect the latest beauty looks for spring with more tips and how-tos over at allure.com.
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