wear pink lipstick like a cool chick

Wearing pink lipstick can be a one way ticket to looking basic, which is pretty much my biggest fear. Pink mouths are a fundamentally girly look, as any cartoon will tell you: boy + eyelashes + pink lip = girl. Therefore, putting one on can suggest that you are trying to look more pretty, which is not the point of make-up at all! One way to determine that you are trying to look more interesting rather than more attractive (my modus operandi) is to pick a jarring, extreme type of pink colour.

Top to bottom: Maybelline Pink Pop, Wet 'n' Wild Pinkerbell, Bourjois Pink Pong.

My top three pinks are all extreme in different ways. Pink Pop is really the ultimate Nicki Minaj bubblegummy pink, cool in tone and erring on the pastel side. Pinkerbell is much warmer, hot corally-pink. Pink Pong is a darker, purplier take on hot pink, but still extremely fluorescent. (It is an extremely pleasing coincidence that all of these names start with "pink".)

Pink Punch - more like just been punched and completely dazed am I right?

 Lisa Eldrige said that a really "modern" way to wear a bright pink lipstick is to not wear too much other makeup. I approve because 1) Lisa said so, and 2) lazy. So some sort of light base and not very much mascara will be good for you. I like the Body Shop Tea Tree BB Cream because I feel it helps keep chacne at bay, and I used a pound shop mascara because crap mascara gives natural, subtle lashes. 

Pinkerbell and an aggressive gurn.

 To prove that you aren't trying to look girly and pretty, it's important to emphasise a not-coventially-feminine feature. I chose werewolf eyebrows, and combed them upwards with the Rimmel tinted brow gel. I also think wearing a really utilitarian, boring outfit pairs well with a bright pink lip. All black, or other dark neutrals (grey, navy, etc.), and nothing too floucy or loud. Let your mouth do the talking (literally and figuratively).

Pink Pong and gurn 2: the remix

 I got my fringe out of my face using a plastic tortoiseshell hairband from the supermarket. I think fringes have a tendency to make you look like a little girl (not least because when I was a little girl I had this very haircut), so when paired with a bright pink lip, that needed to go. I like the new-girl-in-the-office-in-the-80s vibes it gives, because the seriousness contrasts nicely with an essentially stupid lipstick.
 Wearing bright pink lipstick is really fun, and one of the things which make me glad not to be a boy (ignoring the pay gap, catcalling, etc.). (Not that I think boys can't wear lipstick, in fact I'm all for it.) But to wear it in a cool way, it is important to focus on contrasting it with the rest of your "look". So, because pink lipstick suggests heavy makeup, wear light makeup instead. Because pink lipstick suggests girliness, emphasize an unfeminine feature. And because pink lipstick is lighthearted and silly, wear serious clothes and hair. Wear pink lipstick like you've never heard of pink lipstick before, and with a total lack of regard for the conventions and connotations of it. If you wear pink lipstick like the kind of girl who hates pink and hates lipstick, you will definitely look great.