How To Wear This Designer Lipstick

You probably thought lips were just lips, meant for talking, eating, kissing, and a little gloss or coral lipstick every now and then. Girl, I'm here to turn that concept on its head, because lips are so much more than that this season, at least for Dolce & Gabbana. In "Sicilian Jewels," the designers' holiday makeup collection, lips transform into display cases for the prettiest jewel tones that money can buy.

Remember Dolce & Gabbana's stunning Spring 2014 show, with all the gold coins, mosaics, and Sicilian prints? The luxurious jewel tones of that collection are reflected in Sicilian Jewels, which consists of four lipsticks and matching nail polishes in deep ruby red, amethyst purple, topaz yellow, and emerald green.

It's not as crazy as it sounds, once you rethink your entire concept of what lipstick can be. As D&G's Global Creative Advisor, the beloved Pat McGrath, says:

We chose four new shades that showcase the theatrical and playful side of looking good: they are so shiny and special that they’ll be a perfect complement to any Christmas or New Year outfit. They can be worn in a young, ironic interpretation or with a more grown-up, sophisticated vibe. Just like a piece of jewelry.

I don't have the lipsticks yet, but I wanted to test out the whole wearing-green-on-lips vibe so as to better advise you how to pull off the Sicilian Jewels look. So I experimented with — if we're being honest here — some coconut oil and an assortment of paints leftover from my Halloween makeup kit (necessity is the mother of invention, people), and came to some important conclusions as to which makeup pairs best with green or yellow lipstick. I figured we could all handle ruby red and amethyst purple on our own, right?

The Green Lip

You're going to look like an alien in this one. Don't fight it. Sure, you can tell yourself that you're wearing a "bold, cool, sort of like purple" lip color to give yourself courage, but you're going to look like a couture alien. This is not a bad thing.

Since green and red are complimentary colors, I tried pairing this lip with some blush, but the effect was disconcerting, and took me from high-end E.T. to scary clown in five seconds flat. The green lipstick looked much better on bare, blush-free skin, so keep the rest of your face as basic and bright as possible — really embrace the whole "alien" thing. I vote for no blush, alien-doll white eyeliner, and lots and lots of mascara. Throw on some falsies while you're at it.

The Yellow Lip

I didn't see this coming, but I loved this look! Yellow lipstick is really just an elevated nude lip — or rather, it's the nude lip's cool cousin just in from Brooklyn who always makes everyone in their small Midwestern home town feel bad. Trust me, this is much more wearable than you think.

So make like a nude lip and pair it with a dusting of blush, so that you don't look completely washed out, and a smoky eye. As with the green lipstick, keep both the blush and the eye as toned down as possible -- you want to look edgy, and not like a kindergartener gone mad with the finger paints.

The lipsticks are available on Sephora.com for $36 each.

Image: @instylerussia/Instagram