Purple patch

Manpriya Singh 

It’s different silly; for Lady Gaga different barometers apply, but Aishwarya Rai donning a purple lipstick? What was she thinking? For a change, the purple of lips overshadowed the red of the carpet, let alone her pretty floral gown accompanying the bright purple pout. However, she did try to make light of the situation, calling herself a Picasso or something. But Aishwarya’s joke came much after the challenge, “You can troll me as much as you want.” 

So, the Twitter and trollers went into an overdrive not before leaving us with the thought…how to carry a purple lipstick? For that matter, lip colours outside the comfort zone. 

Purple, black, blue lips...Bring them on with just a few cautions. 

Celebrity who have sported purple   

Given the large shades’ range and closeness to pink, a lot many celebs have often resorted to the purple colour.

Joan Smalls: The famous model’s violet lips at the MET Gala back in 2014 invited approving nods. Also because the bold lip colour was paired with nude off shoulder dress and fish tail braid. No wonder, her vampy pucker stood well amongst the sea of nude lips on the red carpet. Little wonder, purple lips was one of the listed fall trends of 2014. 

Ariana Grande: The Nickleodeon teen queen and singer’s purple lips, sported a while ago immediately invited a sea of ‘how to’ tutorials to get her look and of course her purple lips. 

Rihanna: She has often and very often been sported in the colour palette - from pinkish purples to deep eggplant.

Choose the right shade

Purple includes a spectrum of shades within itself; right from the gothic deep purple to vampish aubergine to bright lilac. “It depends not so much on the skin colour as on the skin’s undertone as to which shade to wear. For instance, Aishwarya has warm skin undertone and she went for a colour with a cool base. No wonder it looked a little pasty and just a teeny bit out of place,” opines freelance make-up artist Shreya Jaidka. 

However, for an actress and personality of that stature, goof-ups are a little easier to carry off, not for regular Janes. 

She adds, “So I wouldn’t advise deeper shades of purple at all unless there is a red carpet like occasion. Rather, a magenta generally goes well with both warm and cool tones. A soft lavender colour should go well with most olive skinned women.” 

manpriya@tribunemail.com