5 ways to wear Coral the controversial colour of 2019

Each year, the Pantone Colour of the Year is released, influencing product development and design across the US and Europe.

The year’s chosen shade will generally trickle down through fashion and beauty in the year or two following its announcement. This year’s shade, Living Coral, a peachy pink with a good deal of orange in it, has interesting implications for the beauty industry.

Coral has a reputation for being hard to wear, indecisive about whether it is pink or peach, and most of us associate it with a particular period in history. My great aunt, who was a redhead in her youth, always wore stylish suits during the 1960s, and absolutely never failed to pair them with a coral lipstick.

She looked wonderful – the now classic suits juxtaposed with a subversive shade of lipstick made for an elegant statement, but coral did not really modernise as a cosmetic shade in the years that followed.

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Fresh, different, beautiful

The lipsticks of that period, though revolutionary for their time, were chalky, the coral was challenging to many Celtic complexions, and slightly yellowing to teeth that were anything but whitest white.

As someone with very fair skin, I have always admired the way coral tones can make olive hued complexions sing, but just felt that they didn’t work for me.

Then, Bobbi Brown Pro Artist Amy Conway put Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Fresh Melon (€28 at Brown Thomas) into my hands, or rather onto my cheeks, and it has been a revelation.

A creamy coral cheek tint that looks sensational on any skin tone, it livens blue or green eyes and is fresh, different and beautiful.

This is a coral shade that you can bring into your everyday makeup bag , but if you would rather dip a toe into the coral trend, there are affordable and wearable ways to do it.

Maybelline Dream Matte Blush in Coy Coral (€8.45 at Boots) is another such cheek option, but with a matte finish and featuring a softer, pinker shade of coral which is subtle and wonderfully wearable.

Don’t forget 

Amber Glow Highlighter (€2.50 at Penneys) is a softly coral hued highlighter which I particularly like on eyelids, or dusted atop a powder blush to bring some radiance. It mimics some far more expensive alternatives.

L’Oréal Paris Color Riche Satin Lipstick Magnetic Coral (€13.85 at Boots) is a statement coral lipstick without an agonising price tag – it screams summer, but that does not mean you can’t wear it now, and there is enough red in the shade to allay any fears that it will make teeth look less than white.

If a full-on lipstick feels too daring, try a slight of IsaDora Twist Up Gloss in Coral Cocktail (€12.95 from stockists nationwide) which gives lips a dewy glow with a slick of colour which isn’t fully opaque.

Should you still feel nervous of coral and inclined to think it reminiscent of fusty old lipsticks in your granny’s handbag, apply a couple of coats of Mavala Mini Colour in Funny Coral (€4.99 at pharmacies nationwide) to see just how cheering coral can be.