Painting the Town with Red

How to choose the right red lipstick for our skin tone?

I used to have a fear of wearing red lipstick. I had this thought that red lipsticks were only for those with a fairer skin texture. No biggie, I thought, morenas like me have other pretty pinks and browns to choose from anyway. Then I questioned, well, why should mestizas have all the fun?

Selecting the precise red lipstick, or selecting the right make-up for that matter, really depends a lot on finding the best products that will suit your skin's complexion. One of the easiest ways to determine your skin's tone would be to look at inside of your wrists. If the veins on your wrists are more greenish, then you have a warm, yellow skin undertone. If your veins have a more purplish tint, then you're more on the cool blue side. Those with a fair or rosy skin, usually have bluish undertones while morenas typically have yellow undertones. Mine are more greenish so I ought to stick to red lipsticks with red and brown orangey undertones.

There’s this one product that I’ve tried and I really like, it’s the Maybelline's Moisture Extreme Lipstick in Ruby Lustre. Yes, it's still red, but not the scary kind of red, if you know what I imply. Well, it's the kind of red lipstick that won't leave you looking clownish. Another Maybelline product that a friend of mine really loves is the Moisture Extreme Lipstick in Brick Rose. I find it a bit too dark for me, but she likes it a lot and it suits her very well so you might want to check it out that too.

I also like this L'Oreal's Glam Shine Cream in Glam Red. Like Maybelline's Ruby Red, it also has brown undertones which suits for morena skin tones. Now, if you're looking for a red lipstick that has SPF, then I’ll recommend you the Elianto's Spa Lipstick in Royal Red. This lipstick has SPF 15, which is really relevant for caring your lips and preventing it from getting darker.

On the other hand, the Fashion 21's Lip Spa Nutrient-Rich Lipstick in Raspberry is one of the super cheap red lipsticks that you might want to try. For only Php175.00, you get the color and the staying power of a rich red lipstick.

I think at the end there's really no "right" or "wrong" lipstick for you. If you feel like going for cherry reds, then go for it, if you think it looks nice on you. It all boils down to personal choice and what makes you feel beautiful and comfortable as well.

Art of Letting Go

It’s over. He’s gone. Why do we have to part while the love is still there? Why do we have to suffer? Why do we have to cry when someone bids goodbye? Why do beginnings have an end? Why do we have to meet only to loose in the end?

In a relationship, one of the hardest things to do is saying goodbye and letting go. It is as hard as breaking a crystal because you’ll never know when you will be able to pick up the pieces again. More often than not, they who go, feel not the pain of parting. It is they who stay behind that suffer, because they are left with memories of a love that was meant to be, a love that was.

At the beginning and at the end of a relationship, we are embarrassed to find ourselves alone. Unfair as it may seem, but that’s the way love goes. That’s the drama, the bittersweet and the risk of falling in love. After all, nothing is constant but change. Everything will eventually come to its end, without us knowing when, without us knowing how, without us knowing why. And we must forgive not because we want to but because we have to.

In letting go, sorrows come not in a single spy but in battalion. It seems that everywhere you go, everything you do, every song you hear, every turn of your head, every move of your body, every beat of your heart, every blink of your eye and every breath you take always remind you of him. It’s like a stab of a knife, a torture in the night; funny how the whole world becomes depopulated when only one person is missing. Just imagine there are billions of people on earth. And yet it seems you feel empty without the other. I don’t know if it’s worth calling an art, but letting go entails special skills sparkle with a considerable skills and time. Time heals all wound but it would take a little push on our part. Acceptance plays a part. Not all wishes come true. Not all love stories end with “AND THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER.”

Sometimes we have to part because of circumstances beyond our control. We have to suffer if it would mean happiness for others. We have to cry to temporarily let go of pains. Every beginning has its end, like every dawn has its dusk. It’s something we can’t control, something we have to live up.

For the Broken Hearted

“I can’t say ‘screw him’ to the guy that I have come the closest to being fully in love with. I still would do anything for him and it sucks because I know he wouldn’t do the same for me. That hurts more than anything, but I just can’t stop loving him, believe me I’ve tried.”

This is for the broken hearted. I know how you feel. Empty, betrayed, and no happiness whatsoever. You don’t want to laugh, because you know it’s not going to help, but you don’t want to cry, because it will just make you feel worse. You feel like your heart is falling apart, but not only that, but you know soon your life is going to feel like it’s falling apart too. You don’t think it will ever end, and no matter what this person has done to you, it feels impossible to stop loving them. And everyone wonders why if they have hurt you so much, then why do you still love them. That’s the confusing part, you don’t know why, you just do, and the people who hurt you the most, and normally the ones you love the most. And then, after a few weeks, you finally feel a sense of relief, like you’re getting happy again, but you know inside that you’re just going into denial. And after a few more weeks, you’re back to where you were an empty soul and teary eyes. You thought you got over them, but really, you just stopped showing it. And you can’t help but to show it again. It leaves deep scars on your heart that are there forever. And no one understands how you feel, and how deep you are hurt, no matter who they are, because it hasn’t happened to them And even if it has, every broken heart is different. They don’t know the true pain you feel and carry each and everyday now, so you learn that basically you are alone with all this. And the feeling starts to overwhelm you, and suddenly you just break down, right there, because you know you’ve had enough, the tears just instantly start flowing, and you’re to the point where you don’t care who see’s. Because you’ve spent so many nights lying awake in bed, and so many days being haunted by the scars and fear of rejection. And in the midst of all these tears, you know that its not helping any, and it’s not going to bring them back, if you ever even had them in the first place. After about a million tears have been cried, you finally pull yourself back together and keep going. Your throat starts to clench and your eyes burn with the tears you are trying to hold back. Everyone says, “It will be okay…” But you know it won’t. And that’s the truth, it won’t. And you look back on all of the hurt you had from this, and you realize that people are horrible. You’re still hurt, but you’ve learned to hide it so that everyone thinks you are okay. So now every time you see this person, you know you still love them, and you feel a slight tingle in your heart yearning for them to love you, screaming out, but for some reason they don’t hear it. And then you sit back and wonder how one person could have caused all of this.