From the time I was allowed to wear makeup…actually even before then, I have always longed to wear red lipstick.  I have always associated red lipstick with being a  grown up as well as as being sophisticated.  I have been experimenting with red lipsticks since I was sixteen years old and have never found a shade of red that I truly, madly, deeply loved and could not live without.  Either they were too light or dark, sometimes after a while the red would start looking bright pink on my lips or worse yet, orange. Sometimes they just had too much shine and I am not particularly keen on shiny red lips…my lips are not Angelina Jolie’s size, but they are still pretty full. Shiny red lips have a tendency to make me look cartoonish or worse yet, like the female Gremlin in Gremlins 2 (just Google it and you’ll see what I mean!)

So for about a decade into my makeup wearing stage I have tried numerous red lipsticks without success and had given up until just recently.  With red lipstick seemingly being the item du jour lately, my longing for that perfect shade of red returned, plus Valentine’s Day is right around the corner so visions of myself in a pink dress with red lips were swimming in my head. I decided to visit my happy place…also known to many as Sephora.

Before heading to Sephora I decided to do some research and Googled the best red lipsticks for my skin tone.  I had already tried a lot of the red lipsticks that came up in my search results, but for some reason had never given NARS a try. I wanted a matte red lipstick that would look great on my brown skin.It actually did not take me very long to find the lipstick I craved…OK actually it ended up being a lip pencil.  Once I tried NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Cruella I knew my search was finally over.  The Velvet Matte Lip Pencil is a lip pencil and lipstick combined into one very easy to apply crayon.  The color is absolutely beautiful and I do not need to line my lips before applying it nor does it bleed.  I love that there is absolutely no shine to this lip pencil so my lips end up with a velvety look and texture…almost like a rose.

Since I bought the lip pencil I have been wearing it on a consistent basis…not just out at night, but also during the day with just jeans and a t-shirt and my red lips never manage to look out of place.  I cannot wait to wear this on Valentine’s Day…with or without the pink dress I had in mind.  Oh and did I mention that I have since returned to Sephora and purchased the Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Bahama and Dolce Vita…methinks I have finally been cured of my addiction to lip glosses! If you have been struggling with finding the perfect red lipstick, I highly suggest to head to your nearest Sephora and give any one of the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencils in red a try.