The Red-Carpet Lip You’ll Want To Try Immediately

When actor and all-round style icon Sienna Miller walked the red carpet at the Baftas, it was her beauty look that took center stage – and for good reason. She wore a soft tomato-red lip that was neither too matte nor too glossy but the perfect velvety texture, coupled with intensely glossy skin and a minimal eye, making this look the perfect transition for spring.

Wendy Rowe, the mastermind behind Miller’s Baftas makeup, explains: “I wanted this look to be modern [and] classic, with hyper-real skin and a standout lip. Everything we did on Sienna was to enhance what is already naturally there – from adding highlights and shadows, very little contouring and a delicate overline of the lip.” These are her three top tips…

“The right type of skin finish is so important with a red lip – adding dimension is what keeps it modern and fresh. We worked hard with the prep to get a beautifully polished luminosity to the skin. The dewiness came from saturating Sienna’s skin with the Lancôme Advanced Génifique Melting Sheet Mask and working the excess [formula] into the skin before applying base.”

“The key to creating a lip finish that sits perfectly between matte and gloss textures is down to strategic placement. For Sienna’s red lip, I used Lancôme L’Absolu Rouge Cream in French-Bisou and layered a touch of clear gloss across the center to add luster and to pick up the light from the cameras. Adding just a fingerprint of gloss stops the matte lip looking too dense.”

“I took the shade slightly outside Sienna’s natural lip line and added a darker lip liner to the corners only, which creates the illusion of a fuller lip. Bold lipstick colors can make lips look smaller, so applying a little extra creates a better balance.”