Make-up for Valentine’s Day: a good pink will brighten every skin tone

Valentine’s Day isn’t a thing, but you don’t need me to tell you that. If you examine your conscience, a great and terrible truth will emerge – Valentine’s Day is for young, single people who have never been in a relationship long enough to nurse someone they love through a bout of stomach flu. If you still want a Valentine’s Day card after you’ve paid for three rounds of dry cleaning to try to get the aroma of sick out of the quilt your grandmother made in 1964, more power to you.

Still, all of the cards and the bunches of roses (can you hear the women of Ireland collectively wondering whether the bunch they receive next Friday is from the petrol station down the road?) provide some valuable makeup inspiration. In my experience, pink is a monstrously underrated colour. At this time of year, it often loses out to its blowsier sibling, red. But a good pink will brighten every skin tone. It is generally more forgiving than red, and as a result it's a lot easier to wear.

For a universally flattering pink, try Bobbi Brown Luxe Lip Color in Pink Sapphire (€32.50 at Arnotts). It contains enough brown to keep from looking chalky or draining, and wears like a classic nude pink which enhances lips rather than making them look painted on.

Chanel Rouge Allure Camélia in Rose (€38 at Brown Thomas) is a tasteful rose petal pink. The embossed camellia motif on the case will have vintage packaging enthusiasts salivating but it's the rich, creamily wearable formula and soft Springtime hue that makes this lipstick so beautiful.

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For the merest hint of pink, try Clarins Lip Milky Mousse (€21 at counters nationwide). The name says it all, really – it is a buttery, soft pink mousse that is comforting to wear and has an almost blurred finish, redolent of the bitten lip tints that are very popular in Japan and South Korea.

Pink isn't just for the lips. Apart from properly cleansing the face twice nightly at the sink, wearing blush is the most change-making beauty habit you could pick up. Many people are terrified of blush, particularly pink, because they feel they're pink enough already. However, blush replaces facial definition and tone that is flattened away by foundation. Dior Backstage Rosy Glow Blush (€36.50 at Brown Thomas) looks fantastic on the very palest to the very deepest skin tones. Try it and be converted.

Naughty but nice

Finally, a nod to the Valentine's Day collection from LUSH. If you are looking for an affordable and irreverent gift that is good for a (possibly vulgar) laugh, LUSH Aubergine Bath Bomb (€9 at LUSH stores) whizzes around the bath in the most on-the-nose metaphor ever embodied by a beauty product. There's a soap version also. Too much for you? Bringing up the rear is LUSH Peachy Soap (€9 at LUSH stores), which is described as "a soap you can get behind".