My Favourite Affordable Lipstick for Medium to Dark Skin Tone Available at Drugstores in Bangkok

Lipstick. The one beauty product I can’t live without. I may go days without foundation, eyeliner, mascara, blush and what have you but I will always have one or two lipsticks stashed in my chosen bag (sporting a diaper bag is a look!) for the day.

As a woman of colour, I have very pigmented lips where the outer rim of my lip is a darker brownish purple compared to the pale pink centre. Finding a lipstick with the right colour to even out / cover my pigmentation while also complementing my medium, brown skin tone is not easy.

Most brands offer large, varied colour ranges in various lipstick formulas but very few brands have “wearable” colours that suit women of all shade categories. For example, I have a brown skin with a yellow undertone and by default deeper, richer colours such as red, magenta and terracotta with more red undertones will stand out on me; but these aren’t the types of colours I would wear on a daily basis — they’re too intense. I prefer to wear colours like nude, peach and rosy pink and that’s what I mean when I say “wearable” colours. Whenever I try a lipstick in one of these shades from other brands, I often find it can look pale and the main reason for that happening is the pigmentation or colour of the lipstick is not deep enough to suit medium to dark skin tones.

After experimenting with so many lipsticks across many brands and being disappointed over and over, I am so happy I finally found the L’Oreal Color Riche Matte Lipsticks! Not only is the colour range stunning (L’Oreal nailed it with the deeper colours) and formula super comfortable, but it is also so affordable and long-lasting. The matte formula gives a soft, velvet finish on the lips making it extremely pleasant to wear all day long; at the end of the day my lips never feel dried out. And the colours available suit women of all shade categories.

My personal favourite “wearable” shades: 

Shade 204: Crayon Sunset is pastel, peachy orange. It can look a bit too light on its own on me so I like to layer it in the centre of my lips on top of a deep brown or nude to add dimension.

Shade 203: Peachy Brown is a deep, peachy nude perfect for everyday wear. It can be worn on its own or mixed with a lighter shade.

Shade 208: Cherry Crush is a bright pink, which can be worn on its own or layered on top of a deeper pink or red shade. I like to mix it with deeper pink shades to create dimension on my lips.

Shade 288: Mont Blanc is a deep pink. It’s my favourite shade and I wear it on its own almost everyday with or without any other makeup. It’s one of the very rare rosy pinks that suit medium to dark skin tones and brightens up the face.

Shade 296: Maple Boulevard is a dusty pink nude. It’s one of the few rosy nudes that doesn’t make my brown skin look ashy. I love wearing this shade on its own too. It looks great with a smokey or dark eye look.

The whole collection:  

Screen Shot 2019-05-29 at 4.03.55 pm
Rosy Tones added to the collection: 

rosy tones

Earthy Tones added to the collection:

earthy tones
Available at all local drugstores (Boots, Watsons etc) and the beauty section of all major supermarkets (Big C, Gourmet Market etc), the L’Oreal Color Riche Matte retails between 250 – 350 Baht depending on where it is purchased.


**This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.**

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