I’m not a fan of Red Hot candies (too spicy), but I do love me some matte red lipstick!

Yesterday’s Monday Poll question about matte red lipstick inspired this makeup look with glowing skin, softly defined brows, lush lashes, pearly lids and a matte orangey red lip.

It’s amazing how much heavy lifting a red lip can do, and equally amazing how I seem to forget this lesson time and time again, LOL! When I put this red lipstick on yesterday (it’s MAC Quite the Standout, by the way), once again I realized how red lips can carry most of the makeup since it’s such a strong focal point. One really doesn’t need much to round out the look.

To contrast with the opaque matte lip, I went with a sheer, glowing base with low-level pearl (Rose Inc Skin Enhance in 80), with just a touch of concealer (Hourglass Retouching Fluid in Sand) on the parts where I wanted more coverage — underneath my eyes and on my upper lip, and oh, side note, damn that pigment mustache.

I set the areas with concealer with a tiny touch of powder by loading a small face brush with MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden. I tapped most of the powder off before lightly dabbing the brush head on my face.

I also wanted to play with texture, so I blended a cream blush (Chanel Les Beiges No. 25) on my cheeks, and dabbed a pearly liquid highlighter (MAC Strobe Cream) on my cheekbones and lids.

To round out the look, I went with softly filled in brows and separated, long, lush lashes to keep it fresh and summary.

I think this look could also be lovely with a glossy coral lipgloss or lip tint, too!

Do you have a red lipstick that you adore? Drop your go-to shade in the comments; I want to hear all about it.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen