X Factor runner up Olly Murs seemed bound for Butlins. Now he’s a million-selling pop star. Julia Llewellyn Smith speaks to the unlikely entertainer.
Your eye color is suddenly translucent, cheeks are flushed, there is soft rosy halo around your lash line, and your lips…your lips deepen as blood rushes through them and creates a beautiful, tragic look. This lip happens to work well for day or evening and doesn’t require you to cry! This method allows you to wear any lip color in a very natural and believable way.
The secret to this look is creating a soft halo around your lip line. Start by taking your favorite lipstick, stain, or chubby lip pencil and saturating the color just on the center of your lips. Then, take your finger and blend the color over your lips as if you are rubbing [blockquote author=”” pull=”pullright”]I can’t wait for you to try the crying lip. It’s so beautiful, it will bring you to tears.[/blockquote]
Once the color starts dissolving into your lips, drag your finger right on top of your lip line, bleeding the color into your lip—especially over your cupid’s bow. It’s like finger painting on a sensual canvas, leading to the perfect stain that will last for hours.
This technique will also allow you to use those beautiful pops of color you’re always eyeing but never dare to buy, since the method will only capture the color’s essence. My favorite three colors to use for the tragic lip are a coral red, a classic mauve, and a deep wine. The first color I used in the pictures is YSL’s Rouge Pur Couture Vernis À Lèvres Glossy Stain in 8 Orange De Chine (which also made an appearance in this week’s lip stain roundup!)—the perfect orange-coral stain, but you must work quickly with blending as it sets quick. The second look is the rosy-mauve Clé de Peau Beauté Extra Rich Lipstick in 106. This creamy formula feels so heavenly on the lips and imparts the perfect “you-could-never-go-wrong” color, giving you a super-natural, yet flattering look. The third color is the Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Train Bleu. Swipe this vampy color dead-center on lips and give it a good rub down to transform your mouth into a deadly weapon that kills silently.
At the time, Murs seemed destined for Butlins. Instead, however, like those other X Factor losers One Direction (third in 2010), he went on to far outshine the winner (Joe McElderry, currently playing Burnley). His detractors say he sounds like a Jamiroquai/Maroon 5 cover band, but that hasn’t stopped him selling 13 million records – including four number-one singles and three number-one albums – and amassing a huge back catalogue of catchy, mainly ska-and-funk-influenced hits, such as Troublemaker (co-written with Take That’s Steve Robson) and Heart Skips a Beat (featuring hip-hoppers Rizzle Kicks). Now he’s in the middle of a 30-date European tour.