Forget your classic reds, pinks and plums: in 2016, lipstick has taken a sharp detour into Rainbow Town.
Courtesy of Jeffree Star, Colour Pop, Kylie Cosmetics and several other brands, we’ve seen blue, black, green, purple and other vivid lipstick shades explode onto the scene.
By all accounts, these colourful products have been wildly popular.
When Kylie Jenner brought out her limited edition blue Lip Kits, for instance, they sold out swiftly. And if you take one look at popular beauty blogs and Instagrams, you’ll see dozens of My Little Pony-coloured lips smiling back at you.
Clearly, a lot of people own these eye-catching products — so why is it that I never see anyone wearing them, except on Instagram?
With this in mind, I decided to execute a (very small) lip experiment.
I recently acquired one of Too Faced’s Melted Matte liquid lipsticks ($31, available at Mecca) in Who’s Zoomin Who — a “deep sapphire” shade — figuring it would come in handy for future costume parties. I loved the colour but not once did I picture myself wearing something so bold in my everyday life.
So last Friday, I painted it on my lips and headed out the door to see what kind of reaction bright blue lips would get in the real world.
Watch: You can get a glimpse of my blue lips in action in this clip. (Post continues after video.)
In my opinion, the final result was pretty wild for a daytime look. It took me a good hour or two to get used to my own reflection, so I was expecting some weird looks and double takes from strangers; maybe even a comment or two.
Alas, the fact I looked like I’d been pashing a Smurf went largely unnoticed by the general public.
Nobody on the bus to work so much as blinked (then again, what mere mortal is truly functioning in the pre-8am haze?), and as I was walking around in my breaks I only noticed a handful of longer-than-average glances from passers-by.
Even the barista I regularly buy my coffee from didn’t seem to notice.
I put all this down to the fact I work in a part of Sydney where bold fashions, makeup and tattoos aren't rare and there are plenty of "creatives" wandering the streets. I'm not sure blue lips would get the same reaction in other locations, so perhaps that'll be my next lipstick adventure.
In the Mamamia office, though, my lips attracted a lot more attention. Our CEO Jason took one look at me and said, "Wow, Kahla, that is just..." before trailing off. Morning editor SJ told me she couldn't take me seriously with "that lipstick."
On the whole, though, the response was positive and my blue pout served as a great office kitchen conversation starter.
Far stranger things have been worn at MM HQ — it's not exactly a corporate work environment — so that's probably why I didn't cause much of a stir. (Post continues after gallery - check out these bright Harry Potter-themed lipsticks.)
Harry Potter lipstick
Also, people sometimes assume (wrongly, might I add) I have gothic tendencies thanks to my Snow White colouring, so blue lips might not have seemed entirely out of character.
Although my blue-lipped roadtest didn't yield the reaction I'd expected, I wasn't disappointed by the outcome.
Far from it, in fact. It was a happy surprise and a handy reminder that the response from others shouldn't ever deter you from experimenting with your look or trying something new.
Will I be wearing navy lipstick to work every day? Probably not, but I do hope to see more rainbow lips make the leap from Instagram to real life.
Have you tried a bright lipstick like this? Did you like it?
Featured image: Snapchat (Kylie Jenner)/Supplied.