It’s late and I’m feeling tired, yet sassy as I play with my new red lipstick.

Can someone tell me why picking out a red lipstick is so frickin’ hard? I spent what seemed like an eternity at Sephora analyzing every single red lipstick in the store.

Before walking into the store, I did my homework. I’ve read tons of articles about orange-reds, blue-reds and true reds. And all the writers can’t seem to agree on a magic formula.

After spending nearly an hour checking out all of reds, I decided to throw myself at the mercy of the Sephora chicks to pick a color for me.

So began my odyssey of trying on one color after another. Focusing on the Sephora Collection, first up was Deep Brick Red, my first experience with a “blue-red” color. I absolutely loved the color, but it was so intense. Very much a Snow White look. But up against my pale skin, my lips were all that you saw.

Sigh…

Next my Sephora chick picked out a beautiful pink that I promptly shot down. I was there to conquer my fear of red lips. No pink today!

We then looked at two lovely colors that looked pretty – Classic Bright Red and Valentine. But yet again I felt washed out. The bright red was, well BRIGHT! But I absolutely loved the color, just not the pasty white skin on my face.

The Valentine? It didn’t just pop against my skin color, it supernovaed on me.

I ended up leaving the store empty-handed and dejected.

I decided to start from the beginning, refining my search for some solid advice.

Enter Makeup Geek.

Finally someone who knows how hard it is picking the right red.

Makeup Geek’s post on red lipstick struck a chord with me. She suggest it’s more about how bright the color is against your skin and not the lipstick color. But you also need to consider your eye and hair color as well as your eye makeup too.

When I walked into Sephora, I wasn’t wearing makeup. So any red lipstick would make me pasty white.

So I put on my makeup, choosing Laura Mercier’s Crystal Beige and Morning Dew eye shadow and headed back to Sephora.

Wow what a difference. Both the Classic Bright Red and Deep Brick Red looked amazing. The Valentine…no so much. The colors popped but didn’t overwhelm my face. But I only had enough cash for one. I chose the Classic Bright Red. I always go with darker colors, so I decided to pull a George Costanza and go the opposite of my instinct!

Makeup Geek recommends 5 possible reds that most people can pull off. I plan to check those out soon.

But I know in a couple of weeks, I’m going back for the Brick Red.