The world is divided: lipstick people and lipgloss people. Pigment people and shine people. The time may come when we, intrepid souls that we are, may wish to segue from one camp into the other. But how to attempt to explore a lipstick jungle when you’ve only ever harnessed the powers of a neutral gloss?
Go easy. Careering from middle-of-the-road sheen to fuchsia cream will shock you and startle those around you. Make-up is like clothes: you only look elegant if you are comfortable. If you feel uneasy, then people itch when they look at you. And they’re not sure why.
Nars’ Satin lip pencils are velvety, glidey little minxes in pigment-rich shades. Isola Bella is particularly wieldy for the lipstick novice because it immaculately treads the line between nude and apricot. So it gives the impression of that nude, slightly 1960s lip while flushing the mouth with flattering peachiness. That isn’t actually peach. If you get my drift…
No longer new, they now come in a full spectrum of shades — all confident and long-lasting but never brash. Never galling. Just line and colour in. They manage to stay put for hours without that tedious moisture-suctioning, prune-making, lip-flaking effect that afflicts many of their pencilly species. But if your lips are very dry, apply a dose of balm first. And shed your lipgloss persona like a snake. You have arrived at lipstick. And you didn’t even notice.
Nars Satin lip pencil in Isola Bella, £17.50, at selfridges.com