The 8 Best Orangey-Red Lipsticks In The Whole Wide xoVain Beauty Closet

Of all the ways I'm a self-saboteur, the most obvious one is right on my face. Even though I know that red lipsticks with blue undertones make teeth look whiter, I'm just magnetically drawn to reds with orange undertones. 

 

It's not doing anything for my coffee-bathed teeth, I know, but I just feel like orangey-red lipsticks look better on me (if I don't smile). And for some reason, if I wear a lipstick that has even the teensiest hint of blue, it looks magenta on me. No offense, magenta, but that's just not what I'm into.

 

Unfortunately, it's not easy finding great orangey-red lip colors. More often than not, they'll turn out to be more of a pinky-coral or straight-up orange rather than the poppy-esque color I'm looking for.

 

But I'm no quitter! And even though one orangey-red lipstick that I love would be more than enough, I am a glutton for both punishment and makeup, so I've found eight--EIGHT!--that you fellow orangey-red-lipstick seekers will lurve.

 

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Guess which one I'm wearing. TRICK QUESTION! I layered two of them!

 

I know, I know--the pictures of my lips, below, are pretty subpar despite using a fancy iPhone 5, but I'm hoping my meticulous word choices will fill in any blanks left by low resolution. 

 

This new brand totally got it right the first time. Body of Royalty Lipstick is creamy in a smooth, non-gunky way, easy to control (as in, you don't need a brush to get a clean, defined shape), and it feels utterly delightful while you're wearing it. And it sort of has that we're-a-new-brand-that-hasn't-decided-on-our-signature-scent smell.

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I'd just be mad at Sephora if they didn't have a good orangey-red lipstick, but they do, so thankfully we've avoided that awkward confrontation. Rouge Cream Lipstick is moisturizing, but not glossy--it's got just a bit of sheen. It's the pigment that really stands out in this formula, so the finish is pretty classic.

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"Apricot" is a pretty deceiving name for this color--it's definitely not a yellowy-peach, or else it wouldn't have made it into this article. It's actually the darkest of the eight colors, looking almost brick-red in the tube. (More deception!) On lips, however, it's a really sexy, almost formal-feeling red, and it's a super-comfortable texture. And Bite makes all of their products with food-grade ingredients, so that nine pounds of lipstick you'll inevitably eat this year will actually be semi-nutritious if you wear Luminous Creme Lipstick.

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BECCA ULTIMATE MATTE LIP COLOUR IN AURORA
My lips tend to be miserably dry and chapped, so I usually avoid matte lipsticks because they emphasize the dryness and don't provide any moisture. NOT THE CASE with Becca Ultimate Matte Lip Colour. Aurora looks edgy but pretty, goes on crazy-smooth, and stays put. I'm actually kind of giddy that I finally found a matte red I can wear without looking like I'm eating my own lips.

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BY TERRY HYALURONIC SHEER ROUGE IN BANG BANG
Hyaluronic Sheer Rouge is so glossy, it's downright slippery. It goes on like a dream, if you dream of slick, moisturizing things. The least orangey of the bunch (take my word for it, even if the picture doesn't really convey that), Bang Bang is still an incredibly flattering not-bluish red with a line-filling, shiny finish. It's entirely possible that I will become addicted to it and wear it every day.
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L'OREAL COLOUR RICHE COLOUR CARESSE LIPSTICK IN FIERY VEIL
Remember how I just said, like, a second ago that I may start wearing By Terry Hyaluronic Sheer Rouge in Bang Bang every day? Well, it'll have to wait until I finish up my current tube of L'Oreal Colour Riche Colour Caresse Lipstick in Fiery Veil. When I first found this glossy, sheer-but-buildable color, I bought three because I was worried that it might be limited-edition. I'm on my third tube now, and it's making me anxious. There is no other lip color that gets me asked "What lipstick are you wearing?" more than this one, and I'm assuming it's because the askers like it and not because they want to be sure to never, ever buy it for fear of looking terrible.

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OK, so, Liquid Lipstick is an oxymoron. You cannot be both a liquid and a stick. But even my inner grammar pedant forgives Lush because there really is no better way to describe the finish of the formula other than that of a lipstick. It's not sheer or stubborn enough to be called a stain, and it's not glossy enough to be called a gloss. It allows you to build semi-shiny, opaque color with a doe-foot applicator, and it's nice to have that kind of control over a color as kapow-y as Ambition.

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Lush Liquid Lipstick in Ambition

 

PACIFICA NATURAL COLOR QUENCH LIP TINT IN BLOOD ORANGE
Even I have days where I don't feel like wearing a full-blown lipstick, but I never have days where I don't want an orangey-red hue on my face. Pacifica Color Quench Lip Tint is a most excellent low-key alternative to bold color, and Blood Orange is so sheer that you don't even need a mirror to put it on if you're pretty sure where your lips are. It smells delicious, and leaves one of those your-lips-but-better finishes.
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My search for more orangey-red lip colors will not stop here, of course. Ideally, I will eventually accrue enough of them to wear a different one each day of the year, which is an entirely reasonable goal for a mature, intelligent adult like me.

 

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And here's one more picture of them in height order sort of.

 

Are there any orangey-red lip colors you'd recommend? Does "orangey" seem like a nonsense word to you now that you've read it over and over?