Lips: NARS Joyous Red

I've been stuck at home with a cold, so I thought I'd go into my photo archives and bring out a lip color that cheers me up.

NARS Joyous Red fits the bill with its warm amber-red luminosity.

As soon as I swiped this lipstick on, I knew I had found that rara avis: a warm-toned lip color that works with my cool tones. Normally I can wear only blue-based reds, and anything with orange or brown in it makes me look completely hideous. Wearing Joyous Red is almost like cheating.

Joyous Red does so many things on so many levels, it's a difficult lipstick to pin down. Each application is a surprise: sometimes it pulls coral, sometimes it pulls red. (Temptalia shows it as more coral, while on Blushing Noir it's more red.) In any case, the color always brightens up my face. It's a very wearable everyday red that would look appropriate year-round. NARS classifies Joyous Red as semi-matte, but it applies as easily as a sheer. There is gold micro-shimmer in the tube that isn't visible on the lips, but still lends a warm sheen.

I understand that some people are annoyed with Joyous Red because it's not a true red. Fine, there are many reds out there already. But an amber-red that works as beautifully as this one does? Now surely that's something to celebrate.

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