So, the other day I got this weird idea stuck in my head, about guys and red lips. Not necessarily full-on drag queen style, you know? More like, can a regular guy have slightly redder lips without looking totally strange? Or maybe even using something subtle? Curiosity got the better of me, as it often does.
I decided I had to actually try something. Wasn’t brave enough to walk into a makeup store and ask for red lipstick, nope. My first step was much sneakier. I remembered my wife had some tinted lip balms lying around. Found one that looked kinda reddish, but not crazy bright. Okay, seemed safe enough.
Here’s what I did, basically:
- Waited till I was home alone. Gotta admit, felt a bit silly.
- Grabbed that tinted balm. It smelled like cherries, which was weirdly distracting.
- Applied a tiny bit. Just a dab, really. Didn’t want to look like I’d just made out with a marker pen.
- Looked in the mirror.
And the result? Well. It wasn’t terrible. My lips definitely looked… redder. Healthier, maybe? Like I’d just been out for a run in the cold. But also, maybe a bit too noticeable if you knew what my normal lips looked like. It felt strange, too. Slightly waxy.
I tried it again a couple of times over the next few days, sometimes applying even less. It’s a fine line, really. Too little and there’s no point, too much and it just looks off, at least on me. I realized it wasn’t really about slapping colour on.
In the end, I kind of gave up on the tinted balm idea for myself. It just felt like too much hassle for a subtle effect that still made me feel slightly self-conscious. What I did start doing, though, was using a regular, clear lip balm more often, especially one with a bit of peppermint oil. Seems to make my lips look naturally a bit flushed anyway, without any actual colour. Plus, no more chapped lips, which is a definite win.
So yeah, that was my little experiment with the ‘red lips male’ thing. Didn’t end up rocking crimson lipstick, but it was an interesting little journey into something different. Sometimes you just gotta try stuff out, right?
