Hannah Betts’ Better…not younger: Forget red! This year the colour of love is magenta
- Hannah Betts shares her love for the ‘it-colour’ this Valentine’s Day – magenta
- UK-based beauty expert advises to embrace the bold hue with bright lipstick
- READ MORE: Skint? Blitz wrinkles and get great skin… for free!
Valentine’s Day will be upon us in a mere 24 hours. You can be forgiven for not finding this the most pressing of klaxons.
For the midlife woman is unlikely to be as psyched up about this fluttering of hearts and petals as her teenage self. By now, we know that romance takes place at the least likely moments — and rarely when Hallmark compels us.
Still, I’m not saying February 14 doesn’t have its uses. Where once I used to scorn V-Day for its heinous naffness, these days I dress to fit the theme, since the goal of Valentine’s is surely to shunt some colour into our drab, wintry existences?
This year, colour expert Pantone has decreed that we shouldn’t just think pink, but Viva Magenta 18-1750, its shade of 2023. This mighty hue, it claims, ‘vibrates with vim and vigour … descending from the red family and expressive of a new signal of strength.
‘Viva Magenta is brave and fearless, a pulsating colour whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration’.
This year, colour expert Pantone has decreed that we shouldn’t just think pink, but Viva Magenta 18-1750, its shade of 2023. Stock image used
Yes, please. The company goes on to claim that Viva Magenta is both empowering and inclusive, and it has a point. For this offshoot of carmine can veer towards red or blue, warm or cool tones, and embraces the browner plums, berry and rich raspberry, purplish aspects.
The simplest, most striking way to embrace the colour will be with lipstick.
Frankly, whenever I sport lip colour, I opt for a magenta-ish pout. Bright red looks hideously china doll on me. Berry is more natural, so more flattering — the colour one flushes on arousal, whether one plays it cool or warm.
For those in the warm camp, Priyanka Chopra Jonas’s new Max Factor x Priyanka collaboration is well worth exploring. Her Colour Elixir Lipstick in Warm Sandalwood (now £7.19, super drug.com) is an earthy magenta.
Dolce & Gabbana’s The Only One Lipstick in Passionate Dahlia (£32, dolcegabbana.com) provides a deeper, richer berry, still tawny enough to work with warmer complexions.
Jones Road The Lip Tint in Pink Rose (£26, libertylondon.com) delivers the softest, sheerest take of the three, delivering an easy, comfortable, sheeny fillip.
For those of us who suit cooler, bluer shades, my favourite magenta is Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Festival Magic (£27, charlotte tilbury.com), formally known as Glastonberry (Charlotte’s global fans didn’t get the reference).
This is my desert-island lipstick, the one I would cling on to if all else were washed away. It’s a ravishing, purple berry that renders my face instantly alive.
Rimmel London The Only 1 Lipstick in Under My Spell (£3.99, amazon.co.uk) offers a brighter, magenta-leaning fuchsia. Or, for sheer sophistication, seek out Chanel’s divine Rouge Coco Flash in Mood (£35, chanel.com) which is the perfect, bitten-lip hue in blissful balm form.
To make the rest of your face play ball, don’t feel obliged to embark on a time and money-consuming quest for a coordinating blusher. Stock image used
But, if it’s gloss you crave, Dior’s best-selling plumping Dior Addict Lip Maximizer in Intense Mauve (£32, dior.com) should do the trick for warm and cool magenta mavens.
To make the rest of your face play ball, don’t feel obliged to embark on a time and money-consuming quest for a coordinating blusher.
Simply deploy your normal blush as a soft base layer, then apply your chosen magenta lip colour to a fluffy brush and blend it in by way of cream rouge.
Provided you use a brush, you will be delighted by how well this works.
For a magnificent finishing touch, try a nail colour such as Mavala’s Mini Nail Polish in Pixel, (now £5.44, nailpolishdirect.co.uk), a gorgeously rich burgundy beauty. Or, if you’re more of a gel polish woman, I’ve been living for CND Shellac in Vivant (£14, nailsupplyuk.com), which is a bluer, plush purple.
Still, magenta — even Viva Magenta 18-1750 — will be too subtle for me tomorrow.
Instead, I’ll be going all out with wild colour plus coruscating shine. Kat Von D Beauty Everlasting Hyperlight Transfer-Proof Liquid Lipstick (now £15.20, boots.com) is sensational: massively pigmented, deeply conditioning and no-fuss.
I adore Milk Thistle, the hottest of hot pinks. Warmer-toned attention seekers should opt for Cobra Lily, a fabulous fox red.
For a no less spectacular budget option, seek out e.l.f’s awesome Smooth Whip Matte Lip Cream (£7.49, superdrug.com). I’m obsessed with the shade Berry Bed Sheets, which brushes out into the perfect 18th-century courtesan-style purple-pink.
Cupid, I’m coming for you.
RACE YOU TO IT
British stalwart Batiste sells more than two cans of dry shampoo every second globally. Its latest innovation, Leave-In Dry Conditioner (now £3.44, boots.com) is a no-rinse, nourishing foam rich in aloe vera that softens and detangles hair between washes. Where once Batiste only boosted your roots, now it restores your lengths, too.
MY ICON OF THE WEEK
HELENA BONHAM-CARTER
Before bed, she applies Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil (£45 for 15ml, libertylondon.com) to fight signs of ageing
The 56-year-old is obsessed with getting her beauty sleep. Before bed, she applies Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil (£45 for 15ml, libertylondon.com) to fight signs of ageing, and Augustinus Bader The Cream (£71 for 15ml, augustinusbader.com), which supports cell renewal. She also loves Ilapothecary’s energising Feminine Happy Oil (£51, ilapothecary.com).
SPRING CANDLES
uk.glossier.com
Glossier’s cult You fragrance blends iris with pink pepper, and is exquisitely unobtrusive.
floralstreet.com
The brooding scent of black tulips is conjured via amber, incense and patchouli.
libertylondon.com
This is a big, blousy, floral fragrance with sage, magnolia and tuberose.
spacenk.com
The aroma of roses and blackcurrant liquor evokes date nights.
stories.com
A soothing mix of black pepper, petals and fig leaves on a serene woody base.
COSMETIC CRAVING
Back when Hillary Clinton was U.S. secretary of state, she spoke for many of us when she sang the praises of a fabulously fun accessory that lifts the spirits in an otherwise workaday world.
‘It makes me so happy,’ she beamed, when asked about her beloved Ferragamo holdall. ‘I mean, how can you be unhappy if you pick up a big pink bag?’ I felt precisely the same when I laid eyes on this Space NK Make-up Bag in metallic hot pink (£20, spacenk.com).
I don’t want Valentine’s Day flowers. I want this handbag-friendly repository of cheer. And I shall sing and do a little dance whenever I behold it.
Source: Read Full Article