Steal the Look: Thandie Newton's Red Lips at the Elle Style Awards

Red lips can look beautiful on a mostly bare face and pulled back hair, as Thandie showcases at the Elle Style Awards. And with that great dress, the entire look is perfectly polished. The key to great lips on ethnic skin tones is choosing a warm red, with a hint orange or brown in it (but not too brown so it looks muddy). It takes some trial and error, so be patient!


To get the look:

1. First apply concealer all over the outside of the lips. The red colored lips will draw attention to your skin, especially any blemishes, so skin should be prepped well.

2. If lips are dry, apply lip balm and blot. Red lipstick is not forgiving on flaky lips!

3. Line lips with a neutral colored lip liner. I normally don't use lip liner but for red lipstick its a must to make the look polished to make sure the color goes all the way to the edges. I used MAC Cremestick Lipliner in Beurre.

4. Dab on a warm toned, cream red lipstick to the middle of the lips only. Start with a little color and you can build if its not enough. Use a lip brush to blend the color out to the very edges of the lips. With red lipstick, unlike say a neutral color, important to use a lip brush as the color must be precise - otherwise it will look sloppy. I used L'oreal Endless Lip Color in Crimson Joy.

5. Apply a little clear lip gloss in the middle of the lips. Just a tiny bit - extremely shiny red lips are a little scary. You can also use a brown toned lip gloss to warm up the color if the lipstick you start out with is a bit too cool toned for you - don't worry the brown barely even shows up. I used Chanel Cristalle Lip Gloss in Cappuccino to warm up my lips.