The lipstick saga continues...

Brace yourselves. For what I'm about to admit isn't something you'd usually hear being uttered by an average blogger.

Scrolling through blogs and fashion editorials in magazines, you'll see red lip after red lip. Articles about red lippie being the perfect way to take your outfit from day to night, and berry being the coveted autumn / winter lipstick of choice. You'll even see vloggers filming at home, in their bedrooms, wearing the stuff.

And me? I am a lipstick virgin.

I don't own lipstick, nor have I ever worn it. Don't get me wrong - I'm not opposed to lipstick. I just can't pull it off.

Magazines tell me that with my fair complexion, pink is my colour. And that if I am to go red, I need to pick one with a pinky hue. I've tried sample after sample, and I just can't find one for me. Why not take a risk, you ask? But with the simplest drug store lipstick costing about £10, and then £26 or so for something more high end like Dior, it's not a risk I fancy taking. I know £26 isn't the end of the world, but at the same time, it's a lot of money to be spending if you get it home and realise it's not a colour for you. Once you've tried it, it's not like you can take it back to the store. And I wouldn't feel right selling a second-hand used lipstick on eBay. The other alternative would be to visit a make-up counter at a department store. But is it just me, or are the women on these counters really intimidating? How on earth did you gage a true representation of which shade of lipstick really suits you? These women are working on a commission basis - as fair as they're concerned, EVERY colour looks oh-so-amazing on you. Hence my cynicism.

I then considered my other options. Ideally what I needed was a lip palette - multiple colours for a single price. Last summer I tried several department stores and searched online, but to no avail. Blush palettes and eye shadow palettes were left, right and centre but lip palettes seemed to be an endangered species - very difficult to find. Then as luck may have it, one day I found one on ASOS:

Pop Mix rouge and lipstick set - £16.50

For less than the price of a high end lipstick, there are 36 different colours to choose from - reds, browns, pinks, peach, berry and bronze shades. I liked the fact this palette was multi-purpose and the colours could be used as blusher too. The colours are in cream form rather than powder, so easily blend to create as strong or as bold a colour you like. You may argue that a palette is less convenient and less portable than a traditional lipstick. However this particular palette is small, slim and lightweight and will easily fit into any clutch bag. One advantage of taking a palette like this with you on a night out would be that you could change up your look if you got bored of a particular colour. Have a nude lip when eating, then apply some of the more daring shades once you're finished with that wine glass!

Do you wear lipstick?