Guides

Your lipstick in another brand: the closest shade by colour

Your favourite lipstick is empty, too expensive for every day or just not available? Then the same approach as with foundation helps: don’t look at the name, look at the colour.

Three examples from the catalogue

We compare the brands’ own swatches. The number says how close the colours are, from 0 to 100 (95 and up “fits”, 88 to 94 “just fits”, below that “probably not”).

Colour isn’t everything: the finish

The same colour looks deeper and flatter when it’s matte, and lighter and fresher with shine. So a satin lipstick in exactly the same colour doesn’t look the same as a matte one. If the finish of the original matters to you, look for the same finish in the closest shade, not just the colour.

The matching lip liner

A lip liner in almost the same colour as the lipstick keeps the edge invisible and stops it from bleeding. A little deeper is fine; much deeper shows.

One example: for MAC M·A·Cximal Silky Matte Lipstick in Velvet Teddy, the closest drugstore liner by colour is NYX Professional Makeup Line Loud Lip Liner · 806 Leave A Legacy (93 out of 100, just fits).

How to test lipstick

• Ideally right on your lips. If that’s not possible, on your fingertip: its tone is closer to your lips than the back of your hand.
• Look at it in daylight. Under warm light nudes look browner, under cool light reds look pinker.
• Your own lip colour shows through sheer and glossy textures. The same shade looks a little different on every mouth.