With Fall increasingly approaching and marking its territory,  I’ve been switching out my wardrobe and packing away the Spring/Summer items until next year.   For my beauty palette, I’ve been switching out the lighter, summery colors for the darker colors.

And during this time, I had what Oprah calls (yes, collective eyeroll) an “Aha” moment.

I always wear darker colors during the Fall and Winter months when I do wear makeup.  For my lipsticks and glosses,  I tend to go with colors such as mauve or almost like a deep brown.  I even wear a light purple-ish tint as well.  One color that I have stayed away from–year round–has been red.

Once, a well-meaning lady at the Nars makeup counter was trying new looks on me  and pulled out a red lipstick tube.  I held up my hand and told her, “Oh thanks, but uh, I don’t do red.”

She looked at me quite stunned and said, “Oh honey, everyone does red.  You’re just not ready right now.”   I shrugged off her comment and let her finish her makeover and walked out with an almost nude lip color.

Now, as I’m putting together an almost black wardrobe this Fall, I’ve become a bit bored of my current lip color selection.   The nude colors are too Spring/Summer  and the other dark colors aren’t vibrant enough to stand a chance against the black.  So I went out and bought a red tube of lipstick.  I started out small.  I bought a Maybelline Moisture extreme lipcolor tube in “Ruby Red” and wore new color out to dinner with a friend:

What did I think?  I liked it.  I liked it a lot.    For some reason, I felt more vibrant, more confident.  Even if I looked like complete and utter crap with my outfit and hair, it didn’t matter because my lipstick made up for it.  Is this what wearing red lipstick does to you?

I know I’m late to the party on this one (as I am with most things), but I really didn’t know what I was missing out on.   So my apologies to the Nars counter lady and I shall continue to wear red lipstick throughout the Fall.   And if there is one thing that Gwyneth Paltrow and I agree on, it would be this:

“Beauty, to me, is about being comfortable in your own skin. That, or a kick-ass red lipstick.”

Image Source: We Heart It