The Real Reason Your Lipstick Colour Looks ‘Off’ — and How Lip Blush Fixes It from the Base
- Ira Bale
- 5 minutes ago
- 2 min read
By Ira Bale – Cosmetic Tattoo Artist, Melbourne, South Yarra & Toorak Village
It’s not the shade. It’s your lips.
When Lipstick Becomes a Mystery
You buy a lipstick that looks stunning in the tube. It swatches perfectly on your hand. But on your lips? Something feels wrong. The shade looks muddy, washed out, or just… not right.
Clients tell me this all the time at Ira Bale Brows, South Yarra and Toorak Village:
“Every colour looks too orange on me.”
“Pinks go grey.”
“Nudes make me look sick.”
Here’s the truth: the problem isn’t the lipstick. The problem is the canvas.
Why Lipstick Alone Can’t Save Uneven Lips
Your lips naturally have undertones — pink, blue, brown, even purple. As we age, those undertones shift. Pigment fades, circulation changes, and sun damage creates uneven patches.
Lipstick doesn’t erase those shifts. It layers on top of them. Which is why the exact same shade can look gorgeous on one person and completely off on another.
Think of it like painting on a wall that already has stains and patches — the colour won’t ever show the way it’s supposed to.
How Lip Blush Solves the Problem at the Base
Lip Blush tattooing corrects the underlying canvas before any product touches it:
Neutralises unwanted undertones like blue or brown patches.
Restores even pigment so colour reads correctly.
Rebuilds definition along faded borders, making shades look sharper.
Adds a healthy flush that makes lipstick optional.
Once the base is balanced, suddenly your favourite lipsticks look the way they were always meant to.
A Story From the Chair
One client, V., came to our Toorak Village salon nearly in tears. She said: “Every lipstick I buy looks ugly on me. I thought it was just me getting older.” Her lips had lost natural pigment at the borders, and the centre was tinged with a cool, uneven undertone.
We did two sessions of Lip Blush — first neutralising, then layering in a warm rose tone. When she came back healed, she pulled out the same lipstick she’d shown me in our first appointment. “It finally looks like the colour on the box,” she laughed.
The lipstick hadn’t changed. Her lips had.
The Bold Truth
Lipsticks are designed for lips with a balanced base. If your undertone is uneven, no product will look the way you expect. That’s why makeup keeps letting you down — it’s trying to work on a faulty canvas.
At Ira Bale Brows in Melbourne, Lip Blush isn’t about tattooing on lipstick. It’s about correcting the foundation so everything else works — or so you don’t need anything at all. Because the real secret to “perfect lipstick” isn’t more products. It’s better lips.
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