backstage beauty

3 Perfect, New Red Lip Shades

Friends getting redder together at 3.1 Phillip Lim.
Friends getting redder together at 3.1 Phillip Lim. Photo: Clint Spaulding

If this season’s lip colors were a Drake lyric, they would be “no new shades.” While there’s only so much “reinvention” to a red lip, and lip balm is still the new lipstick, there were three especially beautiful red lip shades from New York Fashion Week. Here are three shades that prove that red lips are still more fun than lip balm.

Stila Acai Lip & Cheek Stain

Wine lips are still pretty even minus the wine at Alice and Olivia (photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for A+O). Photo: Angela Pham/BFAnyc.com

A pretty wine-colored stain was densely applied from the center of the lip starting outward was the final touch at Alice + Olivia. Lips were first prepped with Stila’s Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Fiery and Vinyl Lip Gloss in Melon for lips that looked practically multidimensional.

MAC’s Retro Matte Liquid Lip Colour in Oh, Lady (out next fall)

A polished but soft uptown red lip at Carolina Herrera (photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Carolina Herrera). Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images

At Monday’s Carolina Herrera show, this smooth liquid lipstick delighted all of the beauty editors in attendance with its vibrancy.

NARS Cosmetics VIP Red Lipstick (out next fall)

This kicky red lip seen at 3.1 Phillip Lim (photo: Clint Spaulding). Photo: NARS

This lipstick was dabbed lightly on the lips at Thakoon by Diane Kendal and then used in full-force at 3.1 Phillip Lim by makeup artist Francelle Daly for a more punky look. “She’s a girl who just wakes up and throws on a lipstick,” Daly explained, adding that she liked the color because it reminded her of her favorite oxblood Doc Martens growing up. As a substitute until this color launches in the fall, NARS Velvet Matte Lipstick Pencil in Mysterious Red is similar.

3 Perfect, New Red Lip Shades