Best Budget Friendly Lipstick Shades For Dusky Skin Tones

Hey Everyone!

I haven’t been able to write a post in SO long, since I have either been super-busy or super-sick all this while! 🙁  But now that I had a little amount of time, I was going through the internet trying to find lipstick shades for myself. I was tempted to buy a lot of shades, but I had to take every step cautiously (being a student, I cannot afford expensive makeup right now, and a wasted lipstick would be an absolute disaster).  So, I read loads of reviews but every other review recommending great lipsticks said “This is a must-have for fair-medium skin tones. Might/Might not suit dusky skin tones.” I saw that a lot of dusky skin-toned women were facing the same problem as myself, so I decided to do a compilation of my own, of at least those lipsticks which I have tried out and know that they look good. I would be very glad if dusky-skin toned women would comment on this post and help out more people 🙂

Anyway, as for the compilation, here goes. It’s not much, all very much budget-lipsticks, but hoping for more such posts to come in. All these shades have probably been reviewed already on IMBB. I will try to categorize them according to shades and undertones (please forgive if I make some mistakes, I am just a newbie still 🙂 )  (Also, I stupidly forgot some of the below mentioned lipsticks at home, so couldn’t include pictures for them).

Also, you can get an idea of which types of shades would look nice, and can look for similar shades elsewhere.

Pink Lipsticks:

Everybody loves pink lipsticks. Mostly young girls starting off with lipsticks start with pink only (I know I did). The pink lipsticks I found to be great are:

1. Maybelline Colorsensational Blushing Brunette:

It’s a gorgeous warm pink, and will flatter any skin tone, and it looks great on dusky skin tones. I can see it being an MLBB shade for a lot of women 🙂

2. Colorbar Velvette Matte Bare:

It is not really a ‘pink’ for most people, but it looked pink on me, so I listed it here. It is a lovely shade! A cult classic actually, and flatters almost any skin tone.

3. Elle 18 Rosy Blush:

A really pretty red-pink, it sometimes looks more red than pink, so just go easy on the swipes if you want pink. A very common technique which will come in handy is to blot with tissue paper to reduce the intensity of the lipstick.

4. Elle18 Pomegranate Pie, Pinken:

Gorgeous shades! I didn’t think Pomegranate Pie would look good on me, but it does! Pinken is also a pretty, subtle pink. You would need to swipe it more than once.

Peachy Pinks:

I was afraid to try peachy-coral-pink colors since everyone can’t carry them off well, but it is one of my favorite colors, so I HAD to find something.

1. Colorbar Velvet Matte Peach Crush:

It is a pretty, bright coral pink shade, which can look a bit weird if too much is layered on, but it works great as a stain. It looks more peach on fairer skin tones, but more bright coral pink on me. Wear this only if you are open to wearing bright shades. Anyway, I pretty much love this shade!

2. Maybelline Color Sensational Moisture Extreme Bronze Orange:

Beautiful beautiful shade! Love it! It looks orange on fairer skin tones, but on me, it looks like a soft warm coral shade, which I love. Plus the texture is amazing.  Also, I have discovered that if I apply Peach Crush over Bronze Orange very lightly, it looks even better! 😀

3. Elle 18 Rusty:

This is a beautiful orange-peach shade that will most definitely suit dusky skin tones, in fact any skin tone! I just love it and will definitely buy back-ups for this shade (since I don’t trust Elle 18 a lot, like they replaced the earlier range suddenly).

4. Want to try out some orange shade too, but everything is sold out everywhere 😛

Brown, and Plum Lipstick Shades:

Okay, I clubbed these together because, honestly, I can’t provide much information about these shades, as I don’t like to wear these shades, so I don’t own a lot of them.

1.  Colorbar Velvet Matte Plumberry:

This is a pretty plummy shade which looks good on me, but personally I just don’t like my lips plum or purple.

2.  Maybelline Color Sensational Crazy for Coffee:

A very pretty brown shade that I have tried (it’s my mum’s) and I believe it would suit a lot of Indian women, but I look too mature wearing it, so I don’t 😀

Nude Lipstick Shades:

I don’t even have a lot of nudes in my collection, (I don’t have a lot of anything in my collection really, but okay! 😀 ) but looking to expand it. The ones that I like are:

1. Maybelline Tinted Taupe:

It is a very pretty nude-brown shade, and is a favourite of a lot of women. Do try this, I’m sure you’ll fall in love with it!

2. Colorbar Velvette Matte Bare:

Oh well, it looks pink on me, but it is a nude-pink shade, so included it anyways!

3. Elle 18 Cinnamon Bun:

This is a very sheer nude shade, and multiple swipes are needed to cover pigmented lips but it does it’s job. The only problem is that these lipsticks fade away in very less time.

Red Lipsticks:

Surprisingly, the majority of my lipsticks belong to the red family, and I love them! I just think red lipstick is one of the sexist things that one can carry 😉

1. Maybelline Fatal Red:

This is a true red shade! Okay, maybe a tiny bit towards dark-red, but a beautiful red nonetheless! It screams for attention though! But it definitely will brighten up your face at once. If you are afraid of wearing reds, blot it with tissue and wear as a tint. If you are feeling particularly bold, top this with gloss, and get extremely kissable lips 😀

2. Maybelline Moisture Extreme Cranberry:

I just love this shade! It is kind of a brick red with strong pink undertones, and looks absolutely gorgeous with any Indian outfit. For me, it’s a must-have!

3. Maybelline Moisture Extreme Brick Red:

It’s a color somewhat true to its name, in the sense that it is a red, but not so much brick. But, it is a great start for someone getting into reds, and a very flattering one at that!

4. Colorbar Velvette Matte Brick-O-La:

This is again a pretty maroon-red shade which will look good with Indian outfits. But I feel it again makes me look a bit mature, maybe because of the maroon-ish tones?

5. Streetwear Color-Rich Lipstick Berry Berry:

This is not so much berry – as it is a brick dark-ish red shade that will suit a lot of skin tones, and looks great on dusky-skin tones. Can’t vouch for the quality though as mine broke from the base, and is somewhat hard to apply, not soft or creamy, and low staying power.

6. Elle 18 Roasty Red:

A pretty, somewhat sheer brown red, which doesn’t look too red on fairer skin tones, but on me, it looks like a red! The only con is its staying power which drives me to look for new red lipsticks, otherwise I would keep buying this.

7. On top of my when-I-start-earning-myself-wishlist is MAC Ruby Woo, which looks like THE perfect red for everyone. It might be the most famous shade in history though, so everyone already knew this, I guess 🙂

These are some swatches to help:

*from left to right – blushing brunette, rosy blush, peach crush, bronze orange, rusty

*from left to right – cinnamon bun, roasty red, berry berry, fatal red

Whew! That is all of my collection, (which according to me is great, since I am into lipsticks since only a few months, all thanks to IMBB!!) and I hope that someone will benefit from this, and won’t have to worry about being washed out by the shades.

(*) PS – I have tried to include as many pictures as possible, but since I left some lipsticks mentioned here at home, and I am in my hostel, couldn’t do that for all shades. Sorry for that 🙁  Sorry for the bad application, but I had to swatch them in a kind of hurry!

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