Help My Lip Color
(Second post of the day, sorry!)
So I searched every single tag that started with the word "lip" but I'm not quite sure I found my answer.
I have very fair skin with rosacea, so as much as I'd love to look like snow white, there is a pink tint to me. I also have what I'd call neutral pink lips, they're not pale but they're not pigmented on their own very well. 99% of the time I just wear carmax or blistex to keep them moisturized (to stop me from chewing on them, they're always dehydrated). I think (though it could be my imagination and a good mirror) that with just this I have passable lip color, but frequently in photographs I often look like I don't have any lips, they completely blend in with my skin tone (and not in a cool, monocromatic way).
I think I have a habit of pressing my lips together which smears whatever is on there outside of my lip line (which is not extremely defined), and if option A of STOP DOING THAT is my answer, I'll take that. I get this with even tinted chapstick.
I keep seeing other people online, magazines, real life friends wearing things like lipgloss and they make it seem EASY. But I've had awful experiences with all lip colors and types of lipstick/balm/gloss/stain I've tried. Because I'm so fair, I feel that too dark or too bright colors make me look like a clown (not anyone else, just me). I'm bothered by really feeling anything on my lips, so even trying to be patient with some gloss makes me constantly touch them together to feel the difference (see option A above...). I've yet to find a stain that doesn't put me in the "clown" option. Really, I'm looking for that "your lips, but better" option.
The only positive exerience I've had is with Bobbi Brown lip pencils (alone or under/over carmex) but the result is always matte, and therefore I look more made up than I'd prefer. Ballet Pink is the closest match to my actual lip color. Any suggestions how to alter this are welcome too.
I want my lips to look and feel healthy, but also look modern and current. I work on Madison Avenue in NYC where no one wears business suits and everyone wears Manolo's. There's a lip colored me waiting to get out, she's just very confused.
tldr - Any recommendations for neutral, light-weight, sheer, non-sticky lip color for fair skin?
THANK YOU.
ETA: Price is not a problem. I'm willing to pay for drugstore/sephora/department store if it's right (especially if I can try it first).
ETA #2: Sephora Run: Tried pretty much the store on my hand. (Why do so many glosses have GLITTER?) However, I walked out with Clinique Black Honey Lipstick (gloss was too sticky), Laura Mercier Gloss in "Blush" and Nars Gloss in "Chihuahua". They're all relatively in the same family with varying intensities, I think I'll definately be going back for the Nars if I have success with this. Both Nars and LM glided on smoothly on my hand with the applicator and then were pretty mild in the sticky. That, plus Option A of not chewing at my lips and I may be on to something.
Thank you everyone!
So I searched every single tag that started with the word "lip" but I'm not quite sure I found my answer.
I have very fair skin with rosacea, so as much as I'd love to look like snow white, there is a pink tint to me. I also have what I'd call neutral pink lips, they're not pale but they're not pigmented on their own very well. 99% of the time I just wear carmax or blistex to keep them moisturized (to stop me from chewing on them, they're always dehydrated). I think (though it could be my imagination and a good mirror) that with just this I have passable lip color, but frequently in photographs I often look like I don't have any lips, they completely blend in with my skin tone (and not in a cool, monocromatic way).
I think I have a habit of pressing my lips together which smears whatever is on there outside of my lip line (which is not extremely defined), and if option A of STOP DOING THAT is my answer, I'll take that. I get this with even tinted chapstick.
I keep seeing other people online, magazines, real life friends wearing things like lipgloss and they make it seem EASY. But I've had awful experiences with all lip colors and types of lipstick/balm/gloss/stain I've tried. Because I'm so fair, I feel that too dark or too bright colors make me look like a clown (not anyone else, just me). I'm bothered by really feeling anything on my lips, so even trying to be patient with some gloss makes me constantly touch them together to feel the difference (see option A above...). I've yet to find a stain that doesn't put me in the "clown" option. Really, I'm looking for that "your lips, but better" option.
The only positive exerience I've had is with Bobbi Brown lip pencils (alone or under/over carmex) but the result is always matte, and therefore I look more made up than I'd prefer. Ballet Pink is the closest match to my actual lip color. Any suggestions how to alter this are welcome too.
I want my lips to look and feel healthy, but also look modern and current. I work on Madison Avenue in NYC where no one wears business suits and everyone wears Manolo's. There's a lip colored me waiting to get out, she's just very confused.
tldr - Any recommendations for neutral, light-weight, sheer, non-sticky lip color for fair skin?
THANK YOU.
ETA: Price is not a problem. I'm willing to pay for drugstore/sephora/department store if it's right (especially if I can try it first).
ETA #2: Sephora Run: Tried pretty much the store on my hand. (Why do so many glosses have GLITTER?) However, I walked out with Clinique Black Honey Lipstick (gloss was too sticky), Laura Mercier Gloss in "Blush" and Nars Gloss in "Chihuahua". They're all relatively in the same family with varying intensities, I think I'll definately be going back for the Nars if I have success with this. Both Nars and LM glided on smoothly on my hand with the applicator and then were pretty mild in the sticky. That, plus Option A of not chewing at my lips and I may be on to something.
Thank you everyone!