Step Up Your Lipstick Game with This Super Simple Beauty Trick

I used to be afraid of wearing any shade of red lipstick, but then I learned this simple beauty trick. I'm sharing it now to help you up your lip color game this fall!I had always applied my lipstick the only way I knew how: gliding the stick along my lips. The result was brash, especially when I wanted to wear red. I asked one of my friends how she managed to execute such a flawless lipstick application and she told me that her lips never actually touch the lipstick in its tube.

I immediately suspected she was up to some sort of makeup witchcraft or wizardry or whatever, but she told me she uses a lipstick brush. I'd never even heard of a lipstick brush, but now it's all I use.

I glide the brush over the lipstick to fill it with color, then I use the brush to "paint" the color onto my lips. Using a lipstick brush allows you to apply color with greater precision and you're able to get color into the tiny crevices and cracks of the lips. The result is a truly flawless lipstick application.

I use this brush from Maybellline. It's affordable and because it's retractable, I can keep it in my purse for reapplications throughout the day. My current favorite lip color is from Clinique--it's their Long Last Lipstick in Vintage Wine. The color really works for me--I stopped by the Clinque counter and the beauty expert there matched me with this shade. I can never find the "right" red for me, so I leave it to the pros.

Bonus beauty tip for fall: portable fragrances are your new BFF. I am in L-O-V-E with this Coach Signature Scent rollerball. It fits in my purse so I can touch up throughout the day. Portable fragrances are rad--it's an inexpensive way to get a designer fragrance. I only paid $25 for this Coach roller--a bottle would have cost me twice that. Another way to test drive a new fragrance this fall--samples. Seriously. Just ask the beauty consultant at your fave makeup counter/store. They can usually hook you up with a small sample. I always do this before any fragrance purchase--you've gotta be able to make sure the scent works for you.