CREDIT: OLGA EKATERINCHEVA / THINKSTOCK
Be different and be bold this Valentine's Day with a black and un-kissable lip.

When we think of Valentine’s Day and beauty looks, we often picture red or soft pink lips with a classic eye makeup. Lip stains are usually worn to retain colour through a romantic, candle lit dinner and the mushy whatever else that follows.

But this Valentine’s trend is so overdone and needs to be changed.

This year, play hard-to-get and wear the boldest, creamiest lip colour you can get your hands on.

The best thing about wearing an intensely bold lip is that you don’t have to focus so much on the rest of your makeup, because your lips become your statement.

With a bold lip, keep the eye makeup soft and defined and keep your blush light. If you have too much going on it will ruin the look; you want to be hard to get but don’t scare your lover away.

A beautiful colour to wear this Valentine’s Day is Liv by NARS. It’s a dark and deep purple that is a part of the Audacious lipstick line. These lipsticks have an intense amount of pigment and also contain a white mushroom extract that helps nourish and exfoliate the lips while you wear it. Since dark colours can be tricky to apply, I always recommend starting off with a dark lip liner to get the shape of your lips perfectly. Then fill in the rest of your lips with the liner to act as a base, which will help hold the colour longer and prevent it from bleeding.

To help make your lips pop even more, take a light-coloured concealer and outline the shape of your lip. Once applied, feather the edges out so it blends seamlessly into your skin. This will accentuate your lip colour and shape as well as keep the lip line crisp.

If you want to be dramatic and un-kissable this Valentines, wear a black lip. Black lipstick is always associated with a gothic style, but it can easily be worn as a fierce, statement lip. The best way to begin is to apply a really hydrating lip balm, because the next step is to apply a black, kohl eyeliner to the entire lip. Yes, eyeliner. This will prevent bleeding and will also mask the colour of your lips, because the worse thing to see when wearing a black lipstick is to see pinkish red show through.

Lastly, you will apply your black lipstick and I recommend doing this with a lip brush just to be sure you don’t get the lipstick on your face. My favourite black lipstick is called Pristine by Illamasqua, but unfortunately you can no longer buy it in North America. The next best thing is Makeup Forever’s 50 Satin Black.

This Valentine’s Day, go against the typical and redundant trends and do something different. Be fierce, be bold and be un-kissable.