Dare To Wear Trendy Black Lipstick Again For Fall 2009

Here we go again:

Dare to wear trendy black lipstick for a second fall in a row?

In Fall 2008, the big one was YSL(Yves St. Laurent) Gloss PurBlack, and that one was Sold Out for quite some time. It seemed like everyone wanted to get their lips around it.

Now in Fall 2009, Chanel, M.A.C., and Lipstick Queen are rolling out more black lipsticks. Can you pull off this hard edge trend?

Let's examine the range of blackness in these sexy new black lipsticks:

1. Chanel's Noirs Obscurs with hints of eggplant(Hysteria), scarlet(Maniac), and brown(Obscure). $30 a tube, at fine dept. stores like Bergdorf Goodman's. This is a trio of limited edition shades of Rouge Allure Lipsticks.

2. M.A.C. Midnight Media ($17.50, http://www.maccosmetics.com/). This is a bold. dense matte shade of black. This is a true black lipstick. M.A.C.'s Style Black Range boasts a variety of pure black glosses, creams, and mattes with as they call it, "punk couture."

3. Lipstick Queen by Poppy King in Black Tie Optional ($22, http://www.lipstickqueen.com/). A sheer shade to layer under any red to add some mysterious depth. Poppy King told Vogue magazine, "Think of it like black lace stockings." Ha, ha. Okay, we will try.

Should any of us even dare to wear trendy black lipstick? Especially if you're over the age of 30?

Hmm. Good questions. So we look to the advice of our favorite makeup artist, the legend herself, Sandy Linter. She gives sensible advice on what we should and shouldn't do, and how age comes into play:

In your 30's:

1. Do commit to a color palette. "You should be certain about what shades flatter you at this point," Sandy explains. "You'll know whether or not purple eyeshadow works!"
2. Brighten your lipstick. Again, you can still lay on a red mouth, but stick to the sheerer shades, because the too strong color "can be aging."

And for your 20's, Sandy says this:

1. Do experiment with color. "Crazy yellow eyeshadow? You can pull it off!" at this age, Sandy told People mag. "Break all the rules."
2. Play up your lips. Sandy advises to go with the dark lipstick and super shiny glosses now, because when you get older, lips lose volume, and a deeper tone can be aging.

Great advice from Sandy: Past age 30, too dark a lip can be aging. Maybe best to leave the darkly romantic lips to the 20's crowd.