My Lips from the Star (Using Laneige Serum Intense Lipstick in LR07 Love Me Pink and Tony Moly Tint in Cherry Pink)

While Renee works her way through the animal kingdom, let me share some lip looks that I'm drawn to lately.

I was briefly am still obsessed with the Korean drama "My Love from the Star" (also known as "My Love from Another Star" and free on Hulu and DramaFever).

Story aside, I loved taking in the characters' makeup looks.  Cheon Song-Yi, Korea's sweetheart, sported full-on bright lips in a rainbow of feminine colors: cherry red, deep red, orange, hot pink, violet pink, coral pink, . . . gawgeous.  Her best friend/proverbial bridesmaid, Yoo Se-Mi, sported the very-popular-in-Korea gradient lip, usually in orange or peach tones.

Here I show you three different lip looks inspired by "My Love from the Star" and all those beautiful Korean stars with hateably glowy and clear skin.

*Note: Today was overcast so all of the photos came out dull and cool-toned.  I edited them to try to show the true color, but I don't think I captured the brightness and richness of the colors. 

1. Over lightly moisturized lips, pat on a suuuuper light layer of foundation (I used a BB cushion).  Stop here if you like corpse lips.

2. Apply a bright color in a "rosebud" shape to just the inner lips: two petals on the top lip and one wide swipe on the bottom.  I'm using Laneige Serum Intense Lipstick in LR07 Love Me Pink, a clean bright pink without venturing into fuchsia territory.

 

3. Blend towards the edges with a fingertip.  The edges should remain color free.  Ta-da!  You have a skin-to-color gradient lip like Yoo Se-Mi (Look 1).  This look is meant to make your lips look smaller and cute and dainty.

 

4. But as my friend says, I've got a lot of lip real estate.  And I like to take advantage of that.  So for the next look, apply the lipstick all over, straight from the tube.  Et voilà!  You have Cheon Song-Yi's look, pouting at Do Min-joon (Look 2).

5. The next look is a light-to-dark gradient lip (Look 3).  I've heard this look attractively referred to in a Cantonese YouTube video as a "bleeding" lip.  To me, it sparks images of a freshly satiated vampire: sexy, dark, and a little rock 'n' roll depending on the degree of contrast between the colors.  For this look, choose a deeply colored lip stain in the same color family as the all-over lipstick and apply to just the inner lips.  I'm using Tony Moly Tony Tint in Cherry Pink, which looks blood red in the bottle but swatches a deep cherry red.

6. Blend the color by smacking your lips together.  Use your fingertip if you want, but it will get stained.  And shazam!  (I'm running out of exclamatory, revelatory words.  So glad there are no more looks.  I would have resorted to ::jazz hands::) 

Finally, here are the products that I used.  Again, the color and intensity are a little off.  I'd say the top photo is more accurate.