Best neutral colors for me

[mati]

Hi everyone. I'm a soft autumn and finding a nice neutral lip color is a bit of a nightmare. My very favorite color right now is Nice Tan, followed by Cultured. These two are very close to my natural lip color and they don't wash me out.

I tried maiden, which was too shimmery, too peachy and washed me out.
Nectar looks good for evening, but is too dark for daytime.
Sweet nothing is too dark and too cool.
Rhapsody is too orange.
Birthday suit is a bit too brown. Ok for night time, but doesn't really brighten my face (I need subtle brightening, because most colors are overwhelming).
Nice Tan actually looks peachy on my lips, very very nice, but it is quite light.

I would like a lippie that is like Nice Tan, but a tiny bit darker (but not as dark as birthday suit).
Any suggestions?
And, I love sheer lippies..
Mati

[kchalbi]

Nice Tan is one of my favorites too. I love Swagger from the new collection. It's definitely peachy, but it's also sheer-I find it more wearable than Maiden. It doesn't look nearly as brown on me as it does in the swatches. It kind of looks like my lips, just a little warmer. For reference, Nice Tan lightens my lips slightly. HTH!

[mati]

Thanks! I'll check it out!
Mati

[catlover]

Briarwood is another good one to check out.

[Oxana124]

Bon Bon seems like a dark brown, but it is super sheer, just gives your lips the ever so slightest tint of brown. I can't wear anything darker than Nice Tan, and I can pull off Bon Bon. I think that may be a good option if you like sheer lippies.

[bellatete]

if by "neutral" you mean "nude", these are 4 of my favourite nude lippies (apart from maiden, which i really like as well )

caramel - on me this has almost the same sheer jelly-like appearance as nectar, but in a warm nude-ish tone, slightly peachy.

centerfold - of the top of my head i'm not sure if this is darker or about the same depth as nice tan, it's definitely lighter than caramel though, and sheer.

mirage - my favourite nude ever!!! don't let the website photos fool you, mirage is neither as yellow as the solid colour circle, nor as plummy as the swatch. if you look up centerfold, check out the swatch of the d/c colour divine there. that's more accurate

st. tropez - i only know this colour in the old liquid gloss formula, and back then i ordered it purely for its name but i'm glad i did!! this gloss really does something to my face, and i can't quite put my finger on it. it's kind of nude, but then again MLBB. really lovely and brightening!! don't let the shimmer in the description put you off, it's very fine.

if it helps, i can do swatches when i'm back home from work

[mati]

Totally awsome! I'm off to check them out. I have already put caramel in the shopping cart.
Mati

[Mairi]

Bellatete, I would love to see those swatches! I've been trying to decide between mirage and centerfold. I'd really like to see them next to caramel and maiden, and negligee if you have it too.

Thank you sooo much!


For some reason, the swatches on the website for maiden don't enlarge. Is that just an oversight from SN?

[bellatete]

sure thing, mairi

sadly negligee didn't survive my latest lippie purge. somehow the vegan lipstick formula isn't as stable as others, like the kisser slickers. i do remember, however, that negligee was too opaque for my liking, and it was also too dark to be a nude lip for me.

to make up for the missing negligee i added st. tropez, purely because i mentioned it in my previous post.

the order is: maiden - mirage - centerfold - caramel - st. tropez (old liquid gloss formula)


i never realized that there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of difference between mirage and centerfold in my perception, mirage is one of my go-to office lippies, whereas centerfold is the ideal companion for smokey eyes.
caramel is clearly the darkest in the bunch, but it translates pretty much to mlbb on my lips, i.e. it doesn't darken them.
maiden and st. tropez are the only ones with shimmer, although in maiden it is very subtle. i also think maiden looks a little peachier on my lips than it does in the swatch.

oh gosh, this sounds like my swatches are pretty pointless but i did take the photo in direct daylight (not sunlight) to give the most realistic colours.

[Mairi]

Thank you so much Bellatete!

They really are similar, aren't they? I guess I can't really go wrong with any of them.
Since I'm looking for an everyday color, I'll probably go for mirage. Your impression that mirage was more suitable for the office probably had some basis, even if it didn't show up on the swatches.

Thanks!!