I always considered purple lips to be too 'out there' and 'daring' for a plain Jane like me. But then I started dabbling in lipsticks that had purple undertones, and of course, armed with my 'all or nothing' extreme personality, I decided to go all in with plain up purple lip colours. 

Yes, I'll admit, it takes up a certain amount of psyching up before you wear a purple lipstick the first time. It's different, it's bold, and it'll draw attention. You'll feel self-conscious and doubt your choice. You'll wonder what the heck colour outfit you're supposed to pair with a purple lip. You will talk yourself out of wearing it outside your bedroom. I cannot tell you the amount of times I applied purple lipstick just to take it off and switch it for a red or a pink. Fast forward to the day I completely lost track of time and had to dash out with bright purple lips as I was already on borrowed time to make it to an appointment. 

People glanced and stared, kids seemed fixated on my choice of lip colour. But for some reason, kids always seemed to really like purple lips and I'd have people come up and compliment me on my lip colour. It was a confidence booster. I quickly became more comfortable with this colour choice and found that it was a surprisingly easy 'unconventional' shade to wear. Granted, you'll need to hurdle the barrier of 'normal', but once you do, you'll find yourself reaching for this eye-catching bright colour. 

Further proof that this lip colour, while seemingly daring and impossible, is actually quite user and crowd friendly? My parents are people that have a slight frown when I wear a bold red lip, thinking that it's slightly 'scandalous' and 'over the top'. They'll do a double take before asking me if I intended to blot the colour down, or in my dad's case, subtly ask my mother if I'm going anywhere after dinner and pretend that he never did that as my mum relays me the question. Fast forward to the time I was wearing a bright purple lip. My dad still did a double take but didn't question things while my mother nodded and was all 'yes, this sits better than the blood red you were wearing yesterday. Wear this when you want to wear red'.  

If purple lips can win my parents over, then you know that it's a crowd pleaser. Have you dabbled in the realm of purple lips before? 

The sun has been blazing the past week and I've opted for a base that not only is quick to use, light on the skin, has SPF, looks natural and is also light enough to match my skintone now. The innisfree Water Glow Cushion Foundation ticks all the boxes. There's also a natural glow to this base and doesn't even require powdering to set the base. But I still dot the NARS Copacabana Illuminator on the tops of my cheekbones to create an even more luminous look. 

I've collected a fair amount of gluttony-induced spots on my chin that aren't able to be covered by the cushion foundation. So I go in straight with the Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer before blending it out with my fingers using small patting motions. As I've been quite lazy to pick up another concealer these days, I also use the tiniest amount of this concealer under my eyes. I blend this in, again, using my fingers and small pressing motions. It's not the most brightening concealer, but it covers up the shadows and won't budge all day. I use a brightening powder - either the Bobbi Brown Brightening Finishing Powder or the Bourjois Java Rice Powder - to set the areas I've used concealer, but leave most of my face bare.  I've been using just the tiniest bit of Tarte Exposed to add some colour to my complexion while doing some slight sculpting. Just to take away a bit of my hamster cheeks. 

Brows are probably the most important part of my makeup routine. I've gone back to using the Anastasia Brow Wiz the last couple weeks and I've forgotten how much I love this skinny pencil. It disposes a lot more colour than my previous Etude House Drawing Brow Pencil, but it's easy to manipulate as the nib is ridiculously skinny. I especially like using this when I'm filling in the front of my right brow  - we all know that one eyebrow that refuses to cooperate. I use the L'Oreal Brow Artist Plumper to set my brows and keep the hairs in place.

The eye makeup is kept simple with a thin line of brown eyeliner and lashings of mascara to open up 'the windows of the soul'. MAC Stubborn Brown has been my weapon of choice of lately, mostly because it's the one that I threw into my makeup bag. It's a really good basic brown eyeliner that's been a staple in my makeup bag for years. As for mascara, I've been using my sample size of the YSL Babydoll Mascara and I'm hating myself for it. It's such a flippin' good mascara???? I hate that I've fallen in love with this one as I know that I'm never going to be able to bring myself to spend that much money on a mascara. I should just vow to never try samples of high end mascaras again. 

Last but not least, most days have been just a slick of lip balm. But if I know that I'm meeting a relative I've literally never met before, I still throw on MAC Faux to perk up my complexion just a bit more. It lasts quite well through a meal, and even if it wears off unevenly, it's still close enough to my natural lip colour so I don't need to keep checking my lipstick in every reflection I come across.