I know what you’re thinking…”Green, Temeka? Really?” Even my besties, yes all four of them doubted me. A couple were more gracious about it, but they were really scared about me wearing green lips in public…or at all. LOL! My father held his head in his hands while I approached him wearing the bright green. My mother sipped her tea and looked at me over the cup with a slightly raised eyebrow. hahaha! I think they’ve all come to realize that if it has any colour in it, I will try it, green included. HA!
As mentioned briefly in another post, I think we often discount the value of certain colours because we have made others “normal” or “acceptable”. Colours like your perfect nude or that red shade of whatever your favourite brand of the week is are more palatable because of the way we’ve been conditioned to see them in more places through media. I could go on, but what I’m really trying to say is, Give green a chance!
This past St. Patrick’s day I dressed up in as much green as I could. I had a green shirt, a green headband, green leggings, and green eyeshadow. I try to wear something green every year to support the Irish side of my ancestry, but I felt the need to be extra green this year since we were stuck behind a screen for class again this year. Once my face was all complete, I went to grab a lipstick and realized I didn’t own a green lipstick…how was this possible? As a girlie girl, I had at least 5 different green shades of nail polish, green eyeshadow, green mascara…for crying out loud! So I improvised! I took my nude in the colour Libra by Juvia’s Place and took my Rimmel eyeliner in Jungle Green and lined my lips, then I filled them in and then I added a little bit of FU$$Y by FentyBeauty to add some shine and created a long-lasting green lippie for St.Patty’s day. Genius! (See pic below!)
Of course I couldn’t keep wearing my eyeliner as my lip wear ( I mean I can because they’re made for the face and I own them, but you know what I mean) I had to find actual green lip wear and not just for one-off holidays. I found two companies that have green and not just limited ones. There may be more out there but these two were readily available for shipping and wouldn’t take a long time getting to my house during these pandemic times. Thank God!
Like I would with any colour of the rainbow, I found my shade. Believe it or not, green lippies can have yellow or blue undertones too. If you’re willing or brave enough, you’ll try both. I tend to have a more bronze-golden undertone to my skin in the summer months than the pale yellow that is present in the colder winter months. A green with blue undertones will look more stark against my skin in Winter months which I don’t hate, but the yellow undertone green would work better in those months. Conversely, the yellow undertone could and does work well in the summer months but the blue undertone shade looks radiant against my bronze-golden skin.
FentyBeauty has a green named Midnight Wasabi from their lovely Mattemoiselle line. It is matte and glides on easily with so much pigment that I just couldn’t help myself. I looked so good.
Then I had the beautiful idea to add our lovely yellow friend Citron by NYX to lighten and bring out the yellow undertones of the colour even more. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this combination. It has me looking forward to summer even more and reminded me of my Jamaican heritage and the beaches I am always longing for along with my family’s hugs and kisses. This is a win!
The second green I found comes from the magical company ColouredRaine where beautiful pigments come in bright colours and the lip wear is built to last for more than a few hours. Jade is a metallic matte liquid lipstick. Yes! All of that! I was blown away by how beautiful this was when it went on. I was instantly wearing it like I meant it. It feels soft like velvet but doesn’t dry you out. So naturally I took this to the beach where Jilly my bestie and occasional photographer and I had fun capturing this. Even after the shoot, I kept it on because I felt absolutely fearless. I forgot I had it on as I laid there and wondered why those passing by were staring at me…fierce lips in green! 😉
My love, I hope I’ve encouraged you somehow to wear green OR that colour on the opposite side of the colour wheel that really would look good on you. You may look at me and think, “wow! She can really pull that off”, but I thought that first about myself before you did. I used to be scared of green, but green looks good here. It may be red for you or even lipstick at all, but Honey, it’s confidence we’re wearing knowing we are wonderfully made and have a right to own our space. It doesn’t have to conflict with others, but it shouldn’t cower in the presence of others either. The lipstick is the compliment to the beauty you are. Give your Green a chance, no matter what the unexpecting will or won’t say. #wearitlikeyoumeanit 💋
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