What are colder months without a poppin' berry lipstick?
Just as you equate Pumpkin Spice Lattes, chunky sweaters, and Uggs with fall and winter, you know that you can always count on your favorite berry-hued lipstick to get you through. For me, lipstick is a surefire way to look like you give a damn even when you don't. Luckily, as a Black woman, it's not as hard to find your desired berry shade as opposed to the struggle in the foundation department.
It's sometimes the opposite because there are SO many options – from blackberry to cranberry to grape to beyond. The key is to find which berry is the most flattering on YOU. Berry shades are wildly versatile and make it that much more fun to explore the variety.
First, find out your undertone. Cosmopolitan says, "An easy way to see if you have cool or warm undertones is to ask yourself if you think silver or gold jewelry suits you best. If gold makes your skin look brighter, then it's likely you have warm, yellow undertones, whereas if silver makes you look fresher you probably have cool, pink undertones. If you can wear both – you're neutral."
While berries aren't as bright as the pinks you don in summer, you still need a certain level of confidence when rocking them. In this season, let your lips do the talking with subtle natural makeup and a beautiful berry lip. The #xoTribe has gathered to show you our favorite berry shades and how we rock them. Take a look and throw some in the bag while you're at it!
Joce Blake
My Lippie: E.L.F. Cosmetics Moisturizing Lipstick in Wine Tour, $3
"I like my berry lippie like I like my wine – deep red. E.L.F. is one my favorite beauty companies. This color makes me feel alluring and sultry because of its velvety, satin texture. It also provides a vibrant color and luminous shine. Another key in pulling off this color in this dry season is to give your lips some love by using a primer before painting it on."
Kandice Guice
My Lippie: The Lip Bar in Prima Donna, $12.99
"I'm obsessed with the purple hue of this matte lipstick. It looks great on any skin tone and makes a statement every time it's worn."
Sheriden Chanel
Managing Editor Sheriden Chanel
My Lippie: Know It All by The Lip Bar, $13
"I'm not a big makeup wearer in general, but every now and then, I do get my fix fulfilled with lipstick. I think Know It All is perfect for me because it complements my skin. I naturally gravitate towards darker shades and even though it's a purple lippie, its brown undertones go very well with the deepness of my skin. I also love it because it makes a statement but is also understated, which is me to a T, a walking contradiction."
Ashley J. Hobbs
My Lippie: Milani Color Statement Matte Lipstick in Fearless 70, $4.19 & Jordana Lip Pencil in Coco Loco, $2.49
"It complements my skin tone well. I wanted a deeper berry shade with a blue undertone because other brighter berry colors don't flatter me as well."
Zoe Hunter
My Lippie: Wet N Wild Sugar Plum Fairy, $2.49 paired with Ulta Brilliant Color Lip Gloss Rich Plum, $7.99
"The combo is a perfect blend of a poppin' pink with subtle hints of purple and red. It's the bold berry color I'm looking for in the winter months, when I'm unable to go to the extreme of summer pinks and bright reds."
Shanelle Harris
Feature Writer Shanelle Harris
My Lippie: Tarte Cosmetics Tartiest Creamy Matte Lip Paint , $20
"I'm obsessed with it because it's just the perfect darker red for me. The warmer undertones in it complement mine and I literally wear it almost every other day."
Krissy Lewis
My Lippie: MAC matte lipstick in the color "Sin" , $18
"I love this color and I think it matches so perfectly because it's a deep red with a little pop. I don't feel like it's too dark to the point that it blends in and sometimes it's hard for me to get a dark color that pops! I also love that I can do a glossy look with it to just by adding a a layer of lip gloss."
Lydia Lee
My Lippie: Victoria's Secret Velvet Matte Creme Liquid Lip in Drama, $18
"I love wearing dark reds and plum shades during the winter months. It's my no-fail choice to add a pop of color to an outfit or take a look to the next level. I originally found this shade while digging through a bin during a Victoria's Secret Semi-Annual sale and now it's become one of my favorites."
Taylor Honore
Associate Editor Taylor Honore
My Lippie: Kareemah - Sabreen Cosmetics, $20
"It gives me a warm and sultry look without washing me out. Normally dark tones make me me look like a banana, but this one complements my tone well while giving off some serious bad gal vibes. I also love this brand because it's Black and female owned and has a great cause."
Kiarra Sylvester
My Lippie: Nars Velvet Matte Lipstick Pencil in Train Bleu, $27
"I think the warm tone brings out the best of brown in me. But, I only really know that it's a fave because I go back every time despite the small size and large price."
Featured image by Shutterstock
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak
