WHEN YOU PUCKER up this season, make sure it's voluptuous and sassy. Lips for spring and summer are going to sparkle and shimmer, judging by the latest range of glosses on the shelves.
'Everybody wants big lips,' says Giorgio Forgani, international makeup artist at the Pupa cosmetics brand. To fatten up, he recommends using a lighter colour on the outside of the lips and a darker shade in the middle.
Most glosses are giving just a hint of colour this season, and there's no clear favourite - although pink and orange are prolific, and makeup artists such as Forgani have noticed a lot of violet on the catwalks.
'Violet is the colour of the season,' he says, although he admits it can give a gothic tinge, so it's not for everyone. Nor is the sparkle effect. 'There are two types of women,' Forgani says. 'Really young women love the sparkles, to be extra luminous. But with older women, maybe the texture isn't so much sparkle as shimmer. And not too much gloss - a softer look.'
For the rest of your face, he recommends complementing lip shimmer with shine for the eyes and cheeks. 'Asian women have very nice skin, so I think this is a really important thing for them,' Forgani says. 'They can create a very beautiful base - a shiny base - and bright colours on the eyes.'
Kiwi Divas' Yasmin Chir also likes the sparkling look for summer, to lift the face, rather than keep things flat and matte. She recommends 'gold highlights on the centre of the lips, and go easy on the colours. If people have very pink lips, it's good to dab on just a bit of shimmer. It kind of highlights the lips - gives a 3D effect.'