The expert says: "This color is very pretty on Mandy. Mandy's lucky because she has yellow and pink undertones in her skin, so warm and cool lipsticks will work on her. This lipstick is a great balance of the two," says Nemes.
Mandy says: "This is such a versatile color. I think it really works with my fair skin tone."
The expert says: "This shade works as a neutral on Stephanie's skin tone, but still adds a punch of color to her lips," says Nemes.
Stephanie says: "I love this color, and I'd love it even more if it was less shiny. I'm going to dust a translucent powder over it to give it a more matte finish."
The expert says: "It's a little bright for dark skin tones, so this is for the young and trendy," says Maderich. "If you don't want your lips to announce that you're coming into the room, add a touch of bronze or gold lip gloss on top, which will warm up the color and help balance out the skin."
Rahel says: "This color is playful. I think it's the perfect summertime color to wear on a day at the beach."
The expert says: "This is a good choice for Mandy. It looks great against her creamy skin and blonde hair, and brings out the blue in her eyes," says Maderich.
Mandy says: "This is good if I was going for a bold shade. I like how it doesn't read 'seductive,' but it's also not as safe as a pink or coral."
Since we spend all our waking hours talking to pro makeup artists and celeb hairstylists, we editors are walking beauty encyclopedias. Have brittle nails? Take a fish oil supplement. Want to elongate your face? Get side bangs and contour your face with bronzer. But ask us which lipstick shades flatter women of all skin tones and we're stumped.
Choosing the perfect coral, and even harder, the perfect red, can take months of trial and error. That's because finding the exact right hue depends on your undertones. If you have greenish veins and yellow undertones, then you're warm and should get colors with an orange base. On the flip side, if you have bluish veins and pinky undertones, you're cool and should get colors with a blue base.
Or so we thought.
According to some makeup artists, there are universal shades -- magical hues that flatter all of us, regardless of our skin tone or undertones. Skeptical? So were we. Which is why we spoke to celebrity makeup artist David Maderich, and Miami-based makeup artist Marissa Nemes. When they told us about a few lipstick shades that really do work on anyone, we asked four women with varying skin tones and undertones to give them a test run. Here are the results.
