The Hunt For The Perfect Lipstick -- Beauty Terms Quick Glossary

I'm really enjoying the lipstick posts, and I've gotten nice feedback from others who are also enjoying it.

I do, however, hear the occasional question (and not just here, but IRL when I talk about it with others) of "What do you mean by 'cupid's bow'" or "What's the difference between blue-red and red-red" or other comments. So, here's my quick list of definitions I use when discussing my makeup...


Cupid's Bow: The center of the top lip that usually joins just below the center of the nostrils, creating a twin-peaked area on the lip. This formation is actually the result of the completion of palate synthesis in utero; in people who have cleft palate, this structure is often damaged or missing. Turned sideways, some believe the upper lip looks like an old-fashioned archery bow, so the nickname "Cupid's Bow" was coined by plastic surgeons to describe this particular lip shape. Most makeup artists suggest a form of boundary drawing with lipliner to help guide the product through the Cupid's bow.

Lip Liner (or Lipliner): A pencil structure, mostly wood but sometimes plastic, that surrounds a waxy matte lipstick "lead", used to outline and shape the lips in preparation for lipstick applications. Makeup artists have a pair of schools of thought about lipliners, each containing at least two points that contradict one another, as follows:

-- The lipliner should match the applied product as much as possible to provide the best and most firm edges; or,
-- The lipliner should be one shade lighter (or darker) than the applied products to help disguise lip problems (too small upper-lip, too light lower-lip, misshapen lips); or,
-- The lipliner should match as close as possible either the person's natural lipcolor or their natural skin color so that, if the lipstick wears off, the wearer does not get an outline effect on their lips from the much-longer-lasting lipliner.

-- If possible, the lipliner should provide a primer base by coloring in the lower lips and sometimes the upper ones as well (the reason being that almost all lipliners are high-pigment mattes and have a tendency to leave color behind even when the lipstick color is gone); or,
-- Lipliner should not be applied at all until the product is on, then used to "fix" problems such as incomplete coverage (from a rounded or flattened delivery point, which tends to miss either the points on the Cupid's bow or the corners), or to add an accent where needed.

Delivery Point: The top of the contents of a brand-new lipstick. Lipsticks are traditionally shaped like a bullet, but that shape does not provide enough edges or points to apply the product evenly (think the difference between lip balm and lipstick in terms of how they come out of the tube), so the top of the lipstick is usually sliced off (or the mold for the product contains a sliced-off top) at about a 50-degree angle to provide a flat surface for product application while also providing edges for sculpting. (Think: The shape of the delivery point on a tube of Blistex, which is angled in precisely this way.) Most lipstick delivery points come in three basic shapes: oval (rounded top, rounded bottom, lengthened), teardrop (pointed top, rounded bottom, lengthened), or half-oval, sometimes called "fingernail" (sharp straight-across top, rounded bottom, lengthened, like a fingernail that's not been shaped).

Satin, Shimmer, Sheer, Matte, Cream finishes: After a lipstick is applied and before the first blot, its color pigments take on a set of characteristics known as a finish. There are many types of finishes, and many lipsticks combine them in various ways. In order from IMO best to IMO worst, the most common finishes are:

-- Matte, a thick finish with high pigment, no shine, and almost no moist texture. Most makeup worn on a set of a TV show or Movie is designed to have a matte finish to keep from throwing off the necessary stage lighting with a too-creamy or too-shiny finish.
-- Cream, a moderately thick finish with good pigment and a small bit of shine that usually disappears after first blot and a moist-looking texture. Most makeup companies that don't have a matte product will make their creams thicker and more pigment rich to attract buyers who prefer a matte finish in a cream product.
-- Satin, a moderately thick finish with good pigment and a good bit more shine than cream, but no obvious shimmering pigments.
-- Shimmer, any finish with pigments specifically designed to catch light and sparkle. If you have lines on your lips or around your mouth, stay away from shimmers, as the shimmering pigments have a disturbing tendency to settle right into the lines and highlight them instead of the lipstick pigment itself.
-- Sheer, any finish with a mostly clear base and very little pigmentation that usually leaves lips with a "wet-look" shine. Sometimes called "tint". Most lip glosses are designed for a sheer finish.

Cosmetic manufacturers often combine finishes to achieve specific results, such as a shimmer finish combined with a lip plumper to avoid the shimmer-in-the-lines problem, or a satin texture with a sheer lip tint to create a "moist natural lip" look.

Many times a blot will change the overall finish of a look. For example, a blot of a satin-finish often reduces its shine to where it resembles a cream, or a shimmer blot reduces the shimmering finish so that the overall product looks more satiny. Blotting a matte finish often reduces some of the hardness of the matte look, but cannot make it look more creamy or satiny because of the matte lipstick's overall pigment content.

Blot: The act of using a cloth or tissue pressed against the lips to remove the excess of a coating of lipstick. The "first blot" is usually the one that removes the most excess color; if done on a white or neutral paper, this blot will also reflect the way the color appears on the lips. When I apply lipstick, I often overapply, making sure to put enough color all the way around and in all of the corners, so the first blot is usually quite colorful. Most women who wear lipstick on a daily basis blot at least once and often twice to make sure all the excess color has been removed. The second blot should have relatively little lipstick on it; if the second blot still has enough color for a visible lip print, it's likely that the lipstick as a whole will have issues coming off easily onto glasses, cups, clothes, and fingers. Some makeup artists use a sealant--either a powder or a quick-drying lip gloss--to seal lipstick coats that still leave their mark even after blotting; others use a lip primer before applying lipstick so that the primer can hold onto the pigment better than the bare lip alone.

Blue-Red vs. Red-Red vs. Coral-Red vs Orange-Red vs...: Almost no lipstick is purely one primary color. That is, there are very few true Red, Yellow, or Blue products that contain nothing but that single pigment. One of the reasons for this is that as a whole, red pigment is a very, very strong pigment that usually needs to be toned down in some way to make it wearable without making it look as if the person's bleeding to death. Cosmetic manufacturers combine these three primary colors in a variety of ways to create different shadings within their color spectrum. Often, a product that may be called "Red Red" by its manufacturer is not red at all, possessing an underlying pigment that makes it either more bluish or more yellowish.

Blue-Red, sometimes called "cool red", combines blue pigments with red pigments to create everything from the color of a ripened-on-the-tree cherry to the depths of the darkest eggplant. Blue-Reds most often look good on pale-skinned individuals who have a lot of blue in their skin from blue veins barely hidden beneath the skin and who desperately need some color on their lips to keep them from looking ill, but extremely dark-skinned women also benefit from a blue-red instead of an orange one to offset the depth of their coloration. Blue-Reds are often used to create the wilder forms of pink lipstick, such as fuschia or magenta, and very dark browns such as mahogany.

Orange-Red, sometimes called "warm red", combines yellow and even orange pigments to create everything from the color of a fire engine to the deepest rust on the oldest piece of metal. Orange-Reds most often look good on individuals with olive or brown complexions, where the yellow present in their skin tones highlight the effect of the yellow pigments on the red. Celebrities who have faux tans (a.k.a. "Fake-n-Bake") will sometimes wear orange-reds as well because of the yellowing effect a faux tan has on very pale skin. Orange-Reds are used for creating most shades of brown, especially chocolate or cinnamon.

Coral-Red, sometimes called "neutral red", combines a minimal amount of yellow pigments and either a lightener (white) or a darkener (brown) with red to create a lipstick that's neither berry nor rusty, but rather a middle-of-the-road color. This color works well with people who have a fairly even complexion that falls just a little darker than ivory pale or just a little lighter than dark chocolate. Coral-Red leads into "peachy" pinks, apricot, or champagne.

Color Correctors: Also called Color Adjusters, these cosmetics are used to alter the appearance of either the lip's natural coloration (if worn under the lipstick) or the lipstick's pigmentation (if worn over the coating of lipstick). Professional makeup artists have been using color correctors for years to cover up clients' facial flaws--a bit of yellow tint hides dark circles under the eyes, bruising, and other visible bluish-tone flaws, for example. Sephora at one point produced a whole line of color adjusters for lipstick, though that line has since been discontinued. (It's often still found on eBay, however, so if you're willing to do a little leg work, you might save yourself some frustration on how to salvage a bad lipstick choice.) Other cosmetic companies don't sell their color correction products for lipstick use, but almost all of them can indeed be used on the lips. The three most commonly-used color adjusters for lips are Icy Mint Green (turns orange-red lipstick into a fuschia/raspberry/hot pink coloration, depending on the lipstick itself), pale yellow (covers up purple/brown shadings to neutralize them closer to a coral), and pale blue (used on lipsticks with a high level of orange pigment to tone down the yellow contents and produce a rather purplish pink tone). Other color correctors sometimes used are lavender (tones down overall yellowness), white (lightens heavy, dark makeup), grey (provides a silvery frost to dull lips), and black (darkens makeup). Smashbox has a very large tube of icy mint green color adjuster that works perfectly for this. Other manufacturers of facial color adjusters include Maybelline (green, yellow, white), Joppa Minerals (powder forms of yellow and lavendar), and Mary Kay Cosmetics (blue, green).

Cold Cream: A product first designed to remove heavy stage or theatrical makeup, this all-around facial cleanser came to public prominence a short time after 1910 thanks to the introduction of Pond's Cold Cream to the consumer market. Cold Creams usually contain some form of emollient oil (mineral oil, lanolin), water, a bit of wax to aid in product structure, borax (to disinfect), and a gelling agent to thicken the product. Because of its oil content, Pond's Cold Cream makes an ideal product for removal of lipstick, especially the harder and heavier matte-finish lipsticks, but must be either wiped off or washed off afterward. That said, almost any cream or lotion product can be used to cut through layers of lipsticks (my two favorite non-cold-cream products are Pond's Extra Dry Body Cream and Rose Milk Lotion), as well as some food products like vegetable oil or shortening. It is important to remember, however, that after removing lipstick with a cream or oil based product, to make sure to apply a lip repair product (I personally prefer Blistex, but to each his/her own) to keep the lips from drying out after their protective coating is taken away.