Load your lips with plush, pigment-rich matte colors of NYX Professional Makeup Matte Lipstick - our shockingly smooth matte lipstick that glides right on and stays in place with a silky matte finish. Never dry feeling, always creamy, dreamy and matte af! Bite Beauty Matte Lip Crayon, $24, Sephora. If you have a fair or light complexion, add a pop of white to your cheekbones or other areas you want to highlight with a white lipstick (I'm using Bite.
What with all of the funky-colored lipsticks bursting onto the scene, it can be difficult to figure out the best way to rock certain shades. And while white may seem like the hardest of them to pull off, there are actually plenty of different ways to wear a white lipstick. Of course, you can always wear it on its own for that pale-lip effect. And when Halloween rolls around, you can use it on the rest of your face as impromptu grease paint. Virtual family feud. But if you just like playing around with color and creating your own shades of lipstick, white is a must.
Bite Beauty Matte Lip Crayon, $24, Sephora
Similar to black lipstick, white can be used to transform colors and help create some cool, ombre effects. So even if you're not someone who would want to wear white lipstick on its own, it's still a tool that is definitely worth having in your kit. A fun way to think about it? If you're a lipstick junkie, adding a white lippie to your collection at least doubles the lip colors you can achieve. And all you have to do is mix them. Here are five different ways to rock white lipstick, but really, the possibilities are endless.
1. As A Highlight
Bite Beauty Matte Lip Crayon, $24, Sephora
If you have a fair or light complexion, add a pop of white to your cheekbones or other areas you want to highlight with a white lipstick (I'm using Bite Beauty's Matte Cream Lip Crayon in all these examples). Just draw it on, and blend it out with your fingers. For darker complexions, layer some blended, white lipstick under your favorite highlighter to give it extra oomph.
2. Over Lipstick
Lighten and brighten any lipstick by swiping a layer of white over it.
3. Under Lipstick
Covergirl Matte Lipstick
For an even lighter, more pastel version of the same color, layer the white lipstick under your color of choice instead of over it. Just make sure to tap your finger around the edges of your lips to ensure that the colors are fully blended.
4. Ombre
For a quick ombre lip that takes the guesswork out of pairing the right colors, just tap some white on the center of your lips and blend by pressing your lips together.
5. Reverse Ombre
Or try a different take on the ombre lip, and use a white lipstick to highlight the edges of your lips. Using your finger, tap around the edges to blend the colors together for a reverse ombre look.
Which color combination will you try first?
Images: Miki Hayes
Lips white as snow, hair black as night..at least that's how it would start if Snow White were an art-house film. Cue shocking, underappreciated white lipstick: The ultimate multitasker and statement cosmetic, for all the kids who used to paint their nails with White-Out in grade school and are now in need of the adult equivalent. From corpse-paint mattes to shimmery sheers, read on to discover the shades and finishes that will get your lips best-dressed for the snowy season, whatever the weather.
Ka'Oir Cosmetics Lipstick in Virgin
Hailed by beauty bloggers the world over, Instagram MUAs and celebs like Nicki Minaj, this fully opaque bright white is thick, creamy, non-drying, and a staple in your makeup kit.
Matte Lipstick Colors
Ka'Oir Cosmetics, Virgin, $16.99, available at kaoir.com.
Portland Black Lipstick Company Lipstick in Snow Queen
A shimmery white lipstick in a balm-style tube that can be layered to opacity, Snow Queen is perfect for lightening and brightening and lends an ethereal look to lips. Extra points for the refreshingly minty taste.
Portland Black Lipstick Company, Snow Queen Lipstick, $14, available at portlandblacklipstickco.com.
Etherealle Vegan Lipstick in Marshmallow
Formulated with emollient-rich natural butters, this lipstick is smoothing and moisturizing while delivering the paint job of your dreams. Plus, it's handcrafted and vegan, so what's not to love?
Etherealle, Vegan White Lipstick, Marshmallow, $9.95, available at Etsy.
Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in Drug Lord
Stop the search: This super-opaque, super-matte liquid lipstick with a doe-foot applicator is the closest we can get to actual White-Out. Plus, it's eye safe, so it doubles as a liquid eyeliner.
Jeffree Star Cosmetics, Vendor Liquid Lipstick, Drug Lord, $18, available at jeffreestarcosmetics.com.
White Matte Lipstick
Lipstick Queen Lipstick in Ice Queen
A white lipstick for those who fear white lipstick, this warm-toned topcoat with a bit of gold shimmer adds dimension to bare lips and livens up lipstick without veering into unnatural territory.
Lipstick Queen, Ice Queen Lipstick, $24, available at lipstickqueen.com.
Impulse Cosmetics Lipstick in Blow
Unlike its namesake, this non-drying semi-matte is super-affordable and lets you experiment with the color without taking a hit to the bank account.
Impulse Cosmetics, Opaque Matte Lipstick, Blow, $6.99, available at impulsecosmetics.com.
NYX Macaron Lippie in Coconut
A great lightening agent, this semi-opaque lipstick can be used as a basecoat to lighten up lips or layered for an icy hue.
NYX Cosmetics, Macaron Lippies, Coconut, $6, available at nyxcosmetics.com.
Bite Beauty Opal Lip Gloss
Like white itself, this gloss reflects all colors, lending your lips a dimensional, pearlescent glow.
Bite Beauty, Opal Lip Gloss, $22, available at Sephora.
Life's Entropy Lip Theory Liquid Lipstick in Quantum
Opaque with a satin finish, this long-wearing liquid lipstick is organic, vegan, and lab-tested—but from a brand established by two scientists, we would expect nothing less.
Life's Entropy, Lip Theory Liquid Lipstick, Quantum, $8, available at lifesentropy.com.
Fierce Magenta Nourishing Lipstick in Truth
Lighten and brighten any lipstick by swiping a layer of white over it.
3. Under Lipstick
Covergirl Matte Lipstick
For an even lighter, more pastel version of the same color, layer the white lipstick under your color of choice instead of over it. Just make sure to tap your finger around the edges of your lips to ensure that the colors are fully blended.
4. Ombre
For a quick ombre lip that takes the guesswork out of pairing the right colors, just tap some white on the center of your lips and blend by pressing your lips together.
5. Reverse Ombre
Or try a different take on the ombre lip, and use a white lipstick to highlight the edges of your lips. Using your finger, tap around the edges to blend the colors together for a reverse ombre look.
Which color combination will you try first?
Images: Miki Hayes
Lips white as snow, hair black as night..at least that's how it would start if Snow White were an art-house film. Cue shocking, underappreciated white lipstick: The ultimate multitasker and statement cosmetic, for all the kids who used to paint their nails with White-Out in grade school and are now in need of the adult equivalent. From corpse-paint mattes to shimmery sheers, read on to discover the shades and finishes that will get your lips best-dressed for the snowy season, whatever the weather.
Ka'Oir Cosmetics Lipstick in Virgin
Hailed by beauty bloggers the world over, Instagram MUAs and celebs like Nicki Minaj, this fully opaque bright white is thick, creamy, non-drying, and a staple in your makeup kit.
Matte Lipstick Colors
Ka'Oir Cosmetics, Virgin, $16.99, available at kaoir.com.
Portland Black Lipstick Company Lipstick in Snow Queen
A shimmery white lipstick in a balm-style tube that can be layered to opacity, Snow Queen is perfect for lightening and brightening and lends an ethereal look to lips. Extra points for the refreshingly minty taste.
Portland Black Lipstick Company, Snow Queen Lipstick, $14, available at portlandblacklipstickco.com.
Etherealle Vegan Lipstick in Marshmallow
Formulated with emollient-rich natural butters, this lipstick is smoothing and moisturizing while delivering the paint job of your dreams. Plus, it's handcrafted and vegan, so what's not to love?
Etherealle, Vegan White Lipstick, Marshmallow, $9.95, available at Etsy.
Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in Drug Lord
Stop the search: This super-opaque, super-matte liquid lipstick with a doe-foot applicator is the closest we can get to actual White-Out. Plus, it's eye safe, so it doubles as a liquid eyeliner.
Jeffree Star Cosmetics, Vendor Liquid Lipstick, Drug Lord, $18, available at jeffreestarcosmetics.com.
White Matte Lipstick
Lipstick Queen Lipstick in Ice Queen
A white lipstick for those who fear white lipstick, this warm-toned topcoat with a bit of gold shimmer adds dimension to bare lips and livens up lipstick without veering into unnatural territory.
Lipstick Queen, Ice Queen Lipstick, $24, available at lipstickqueen.com.
Impulse Cosmetics Lipstick in Blow
Unlike its namesake, this non-drying semi-matte is super-affordable and lets you experiment with the color without taking a hit to the bank account.
Impulse Cosmetics, Opaque Matte Lipstick, Blow, $6.99, available at impulsecosmetics.com.
NYX Macaron Lippie in Coconut
A great lightening agent, this semi-opaque lipstick can be used as a basecoat to lighten up lips or layered for an icy hue.
NYX Cosmetics, Macaron Lippies, Coconut, $6, available at nyxcosmetics.com.
Bite Beauty Opal Lip Gloss
Like white itself, this gloss reflects all colors, lending your lips a dimensional, pearlescent glow.
Bite Beauty, Opal Lip Gloss, $22, available at Sephora.
Life's Entropy Lip Theory Liquid Lipstick in Quantum
Opaque with a satin finish, this long-wearing liquid lipstick is organic, vegan, and lab-tested—but from a brand established by two scientists, we would expect nothing less.
Life's Entropy, Lip Theory Liquid Lipstick, Quantum, $8, available at lifesentropy.com.
Fierce Magenta Nourishing Lipstick in Truth
Highly pigmented and moisturizing with tons of good-for-your-lips ingredients, this lipstick heals and protects while making them look, well…fierce. And with color this pure, your lips won't lie–even if you do.
Fierce Magenta, Nourishing Lipstick, Truth, $9.50, available at Etsy.
