Hot lips: brighter is better this summer

Loose hair, a clear glowing complexion, just enough mascara to frame her eyes and such exuberantly, startlingly red lipstick that it was impossible to notice anything else other than her unfeasibly fulsome mouth.

They might not have gone with her dress, and they might not have been an obvious or summery choice, but those ultra-bright red lips have really started something.

Now you can get in on the latest trend.

The reds

What's bang on trend is very bright red lipstick with a matte finish.

The very thought may be enough to make you flinch, given the unfortunate tendency of dark, matte colours to make lips look shrivelled and prune-like, but more moisturising formulations mean that the new matte lipsticks are a good deal more forgiving.

Poppy King's Lipstick Queen Red Sinner (£16.15 at SpaceNK) contains a knockout blast of pigment, while Revlon's Really Red (£7.13, 0800 085276) has found a big fan in Nigella Lawson, who praises it on her website as "the perfect red lipstick.

It's not for every day — but it has a fantastic Forties feel to it, and manages to have that depth that you get from the matte look, but without the usual drying qualities". 

Scary brights

The other unavoidable lippy trend is ultra-bright colour.

That's any colour other than red, but particularly fuchsia and orange, which were loudly in evidence on the autumn/winter catwalks and are a favourite with Cameron Diaz.

MAC, make-up artists for Antonio Berardi and Karen Walker's shows, used MAC Pro Cream Colour Base (in Madly Magenta and Orange Alarm (£11.74, 0870 034 2676).

Whatever colour you use, apply it with a brush, for precision, and use a lip primer to help it stay put.

If it's going to be this bright, it needs to look precise.

The glosses

Even lip gloss, normally a safe and subtle option, is ramping up its colour quotient this summer.

If you want to startle, try the new shocking neon-pink Bubblegum gloss from Cosmetics à la Carte (£18, www.cosmeticsalacarte.com).

It's the sort of thing that Lady GaGa likes, if that gives you a steer — she wore it for an appearance on the BBC breakfast show and took it home with her afterwards.

There's a By Terry gloss — Gloss Delectation in Mandarina Pschitt, a solid, bright, orangey-pink — which also manages deep colour and high shine (£25, www.spacenk.com) though personally, I'd leave the shiny brights to my gorgeous daughters and settle for something slightly more grown-up.

Not that there's anything shy and retiring about my latest fix, Lipstick Queen's Big Bang Theory Illusion Gloss in ruby-red Cosmos, (£18, www.spacenk.com) but it works just as well when worn very sheer as it does at high volume.

And why pay £18 for a lip gloss? Try one and see. If it doesn't change your life, then stick with something cheaper, like the great Lip Shine range from www.eyeslipsface.co.uk, where the pinkest and brightest, Juiced Berry, costs £1.50.

The sheers

"If you're not sure about bright colour, try a sheer lipstick with less pigment," suggests Laura Martin of Cosmetics à la Carte (try their Bloody Mary, £18, for a red that's less scary than it sounds).

Clarins' Joli Rouge in Clarins Red (£14.19) is bright but not too dense, Daniel Sandler's Lipshine in tangerine is light and bright with a summery SPF15 (£11.74, www.beautique.com), and Ballet Russe from 3 Custom Colour (£14, www.cultbeauty.co.uk) is as bright a red as you could want, but light, with it.

The pencils

Not lip-liners, but cunning new hybrids that look like crayons but behave like lipsticks.

Nars' Velvet Matte Lip Pencils deliver a hefty dose of pigment (Dragon Girl, a punchy red, is one of Gwen Stefani's favourites, £16.50, www.narscosmetics.co.uk), while the Chinatown pencils from Lipstick Queen (try Crime, a noisy but smooth pink, £18, www.spacenk.com) for colour, definition and gloss all in one.

The stains

A plain lip-stain is the simplest and most summery option, and offers the extra benefit of doubling up as a blusher.

Benetint, from BeneFit, is the classic of the genre and waterproof, too (£22.50, www.benefitcosmetics.co.uk); MeMeMe Pussycat Cheek & Lip Tint, £4.99 at Superdrug, is an economy alternative.

These are both watery liquids; easier to apply is The Balm's Stainiac, which works in just the same way but it's a gel, so you have a greater chance of getting it exactly where you want it (and, if you're beset by feathery little lip-lines, it's less likely to bleed off into them; £12 at Harvey Nichols).

If you want a bit of everything then try No 7's Stay Perfect Lip Laquer in Flamenco Red.

There's a lip-stain at one end, and a gloss at the other, so you can make your mouth look as pale, or stained, or matte, or glossy, as you like (£9.75 at Boots).