Although I own a few dozen, I know in my heart I only need 2. Janet Jackson blazed a trail in the mid 90’s wearing her signature much darker lip liner with a lighter color to fill in, tacky lips everywhere followed. I can admit now that my brown eye liner once worked two jobs sometime in high school. Yikes.
Now it’s easy, find two lip pencils in shades slightly darker than your lips. One more pinkey one more neutral-beigey. Since the pinkey one can be tricky I like Cargo’s version in Rose.
The nude color is easier to find- every line has one, just choose one that isn’t too orange. The idea is to reinforce the lip color and add staying power, for times when I want a light matte look I fill in my lips completely with the liner and just add lip balm on top. Use the pinker one with cooler shades and the neutral one with beiges and you’re set, no matter how dark the lip stick or gloss. Now clean out that drawer filled with liners that are probably chalk by now anyway, you only need room for two.
