As a beauty editor and, fundamentally, a consumer of beauty products, I have a soft spot for the industry. I am, however, also one of its biggest critics – the archaic “criterion for beauty” and who gets to play a part in it still needs dismantling. That said, one area of progression can be seen in its definition of “nude”. The idea of nude – be it a nude lipstick or nude underwear – is that it resembles flesh tones or is at least close enough to complement your natural skin colour. Which is why I could never understand why, for years, the only nude anything you could find was a weird off-key beige. These days, however, nude lipsticks can mean anything from taupes with hints of pinks (best on fairer skins) right through to warm pinky or plummy browns (great on darker skin tones). The industry has finally woken up to the fact that nude is not a monolith and that, unless severely jaundiced, no one has skin the colour of a Rich Tea biscuit.
1. Byredo Lipstick in Solid Ground £35, byredo.com
2. Charlotte Tilbury K.I.S.S.I.N.G Lipstick in Nude Kate £25, charlottetilbury.com
3. NARS Claudette Audacious Lipstick in Anais £26, spacenk.com
4. Guerlain Kiss Kiss Tender Matte Lipstick in Lovely Nude £31, johnlewis.com
5. Chanel Rouge Coco Flash in Boy £31, chanel.com
6. Hermès Rouge Matte Lipstick in Rose Boise £58, hermes.com
7. Givenchy Rouge Deep Velvet Lipstick in N42 £29, boots.com
8. Pat McGrath Divine Rose Matte Trance Lipstick £35, selfridges.com
9. Dior Rouge Dior Lipstick £32, dior.com
10. Carolina Herrera Matte Lipstick in Undercover From £25, harrods.com
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