The Secret To Stunning Lips

The Secret To Stunning Lips

Bold lips are the secret to the shower of compliments that you hear other people getting. There are two factors that prevent most people from rocking them (1) confidence (2) finding colors with the right undertone and value.

"I love your lip color!" 

I know it sounds like bragging, but I get this a lot. I don't get this compliment when I wear a nude lip, so take that how you want. (FULL DISCLOSURE I do LOVE my Dare to Bare palette, but let's be real nude lips are your natural lips so they're more awkward to compliment). 


So what's the secret to getting those lovely compliments? Bold lip colors. I know, a lot of folks are scared of them, but with ebhues, we've got a sure fire way to find a bold lip sure to stun.


Before we get much further I'd like to 100% kill the statement, "I can't wear bold lips because my lips are too thin, big, I'm too old etc". Almost every single lady who comes into the studio tells me some variation of this statement. It takes everything in me to not die a little inside. Those thoughts are false, and a big barrier to pulling off a sassy lip look. I get that people may feel this way from lipstick trauma, but I take it as my responsibility to dispel this myth for them. Because the Dare to Bare palette is easy to pull out and quickly get that natural lip, I usually start with a fun color game to kill the myth. 


Using the amazing lip drape, I'll swatch up their arm with different undertones and gauge which one is going to give them the best pop. There are a few secrets that I'd like to share in how to make this process super easy. If you are at the studio, we do all this work for you but as we only have one location we will go over how you can discover your best colors at home with the lip drape.


1. When you swatch up your arm you are looking at how the colors change on you. Compare how the color originally looks vs. how it looks on your arm. The swatches below are exactly the same, but on people with different undertones.


Find your perfect red


2. Space colors far enough so that you can see skin in between each swatch. You want to see how the skin around the swatch looks. You're looking for clarity and pop but not so much that all you see is the color. When a color appears clear on you, we call this color combination harmonious. 


3. Most people generally pick the right color. Sometimes people will go completely rogue, but when you put the color on their lip it's very easy to see if they went in the wrong direction. I also take a little hint from people's natural lip color.


  • - Really warm lips that have a yellowish tinge, typically need colors with blue undertones to them. 
  • - Lips that aren't quite as warm, but don't appear very cool need colors with a red undertone to them.
  • - Lips that are kind of purpley-blue in tone need colors with yellow undertones to them.
  • - Lips that are blueish in tone need colors with orange undertones to them.


4. If you have A LOT of color naturally in your lips, you're going to need to go Deep in value. Deeper values are ESPECIALLY hard to pick out in most stores or online. They photograph in a way that makes their true color difficult to gauge. On the right person, they can look VERY bright. For this reason, I try not to let people see the tester palettes I'm using when I'm applying colors until after they see the color on. For example, a REALLY deep orange color or brown on a person who has a lot of coolness in their lips doesn't look anything like the palette color. 


5. Once you know your undertone and value zone, finding a bold lip color is SO EASY. We've coded ALL our colors to help you find your perfect lip look. Now you can say goodbye to the days you were afraid of a bold red and start bathing in the compliments of women who want to shop that lip look right off ya. Just be sure to remember us when you make it big okay? ;)



Lip Drape



  1. Darin Wright Darin Wright

    We're so glad that you are finding your lip friends! Let us know if you need anymore help on your color journey. You can also do our eyedrapes and get shopping swatches. Not to mention we offer shopping swatches for all our makeup that you may love!

  2. Jennifer Mejia Jennifer Mejia

    After reading this and your post on nude lips,I have to give a huge thank you! I was draped a True Winter in Sci-Art over a year ago. While I can say that the colors are beautiful, it didn't sit right to me in my head especially with cosmetics. Every lipstick that is recommended for us is very red blue based, and always came up looking lighter on my already pale purple toned lips. Now that I've read these articles and tried some yellow based lipsticks, I can see how they balance out the natural pigment. Thank you so much!!!! I'm hoping I can make the trip to see you in the future and have my colors done!!! You're amazing!

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