A reader wrote in asking for help in finding the right shade of lipstick.  It's a shame, she wrote.  I cannot find the right shade of lipstick.  I've been looking for two years.  I know you're an authority on (red) lipstick, but I'm not into red, pink, wine, etc.

Huh?  Not into red!  (Just kidding).

Consider Your Natural Lip Color

The reader also stated that she doesn't want to have to go bare, but taking a look at your bare lips can at least help you find a good nude or neutral color. I remember reading that makeup artist Bobbi Brown suggests finding a shade that's close to your natural lip color and taking it up a notch or two (meaning darker or brighter).

You can find more tips in my article on finding the right lipstick for your skin tone.

Try Customizing Your Lip Shade

Before I started writing about beauty, I used to go into drug stores and buy lipsticks from Posner and other inexpensive brands, then turned master lipstick mixer, blending a few colors until I found something I liked.

One of my favorite colors is brick red, which I discovered when trying to tone down a bright red using a brown shade.  That saved the brown shade, by the way, because I look hideous in brown lipstick!

If you think that collecting a bunch of lipsticks and then mixing and blending is just too much work, celebrity makeup artist Mally Roncal has created a lip palette that you can use to customize your lipstick look.  For more information, read my review of Mally's Pro-Tricks Lip Palette.

_{Photo: Mally Beauty}

Need a treat, or rather treatment, for dry lips?  Miracle Skin Transformer's Lip Rewind Advanced Peptide Lip Treatment SPF 20 is a tinted, peptide-infused treatment that protects lips from daily damage and moisture loss.  Lip Rewind is available in Berry, Coral, Pink, Love and Translucent shades for sheer, subtle color.

For more information, read my review of Lip Rewind Advanced Peptide Lip Treatment SPF 20.

MST will donate $5 of each sale of the Love Lip Rewind shade to Children's Action Network (CAN) a non profit organization founded by Kate Capshaw, Steven Spielberg and Henry Winkler to raise awareness of children's issues, specifically finding families for foster children in the United States.

Customers can also receive 30% off their entire purchase at MiracleSkinTransformer.com until Mother's Day (May 12).  Enter I Love Mom at checkout.

_{Lip Rewind in Love/Photo: Miracle Skin Transformer}

I came across Bath & Body Works' Forever Red Fine Fragrance Mist, which I actually intended to write about for a Valentine's Day roundup (it came in a bit too late).

Forever Red has a sweet fruity/floral fragrance with top notes of pomegranate, French peach and apple; mid notes of red peony, night marigold and red osmanthus; and dry notes of vanilla rum, marshmallow and oak wood.

If you like the scent, BBW has a Buy 3 Get 2 Free sale for its Signature Collection Body Care products (which include the Forever Red items).

BBW customers had been asking for a travel size bottle of the 8 fl oz Fragrance Mist ($22).  The 3 fl oz bottle, which is available for a limited time, is $14.50.  If you want it for air travel, though, the bottle design, big bow included, will actually take up too much space in your quart-sized Ziploc bag.  You'd be better off with the Eau de Parfum Rollerball  ($12.50). For more info and gift ideas, visit BathAndBodyWorks.com.

_{Photo: Bath & Body Works}

More Scents to Consider

4 Fresh Celebrity Fragrances

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While attending Organic Spa Magazine's recent Organic Beauty & Lifestyle media event, I picked up a sample of the Shankara Oil Collection, which has eight mini bottles of Ayurvedic herbal and base oils, that are based on Ayurvedic types (doshas - mind-body and skin types):  vata (dry skin), pitta (normal, combination and sensitive) and kapha (oily).

According to the company, everything may be categorized according to its proportion of the doshas, including mind-body and skin type.

The Shankara Oil Collection includes Relaxing Body Oil, Reviving Body Oil, De-Stressing Body Oil, Harmonizing Oil, Muscle Release Oil, Nourishing Foot Oil, Hair & Scalp Oil and Cellulite Treatment Oil.

You should be able to find whichever oil meets your individual needs and it's also a good way to sample all of the Shankara body oils to discover which formulations you like.  For example, Reviving Body Oil is for tired, congested skin characteristics of the kapha dosha type, Harmonizing Oil is a calming, hormone-balancing oil, that balances moods and is good for menstrual cramp relief, and De-Stressing Body Oil is for normal, sensitive and combination skin/pitta types and is also uplifting, so if you need to get out of the doldrums, this oil might be for you.

The Shankara Oil Collection is $28 at Shankara.com.

_{Photo: Shankara}