Some are heralding the end of lipgloss's reign over our lips, but we're yet to be convinced. Meantime, however, there's no doubting lipstick's enduring appeal for giving lips definition and intense colour – as long as you get the colour right, of course, as famous lippie lovers such as Holly Willoughby, Gwen Stefani and Dita Von Teese always seem to do.
But a lot of us mere mortals aren't. Max Factor research shows that 65 per cent of women waste money on lipsticks they never use, the number one reason for which being that they've bought the wrong shade. And one-in-five women has at least six inhabitants of their 'lipstick graveyard'. So the company's come up with a solution: Colour Collection Lipsticks, £7.99 each, which are grouped according to skin tone.
According to the Max Factor experts, the single most important factor in finding the perfect lip colour is skin tone, which can be divided into three shades – fair, medium and dark. Lip chroma (the dullness or brightness of lip colour) and lip hue (the actual colour) are similar across each skin tone. What does make a difference is the lightness or darkness of the lip in relation to the lightness or darkness of the skin tone.
Therefore it's skin tone as it surrounds the lips, not hair or clothes, that has the most influence on the lip shade. As skin gets darker, women need a more intense colour to differentiate their lips from their skin. So Colour Collection's shades intensify within each of the ranges. There are 26 shades to choose from across the collection, so you should be able to find the perfect nude and the perfect red for your skin tone – and that's all that any woman needs. To start off with, at least!
