Apparently lipstick is back.
Somewhere between “clean girl” and leaving the house looking like I had recently recovered from influenza, I may have forgotten the peculiar power of putting my face on. You know the expression. My mother’s generation didn’t “do their makeup.” They put their face on!
It sounds mildly alarming now, as though one's actual face were an optional accessory kept beside the handbag, but there was something wonderfully intentional about it. Hair brushed. Lipstick applied. Earrings on. Done! And apparently, we may be ready for that again.
After years of glazed everything, barely-there balms and makeup designed to convince people we weren’t actually wearing makeup, lipstick has re-entered the chat… And she brought colour!
Fall 2026 beauty is suddenly full of berry, wine, plum, oxblood and brown-red lips. Eyes are softer but smokier. Plum liner is having a moment. Skin still looks like skin. The point isn't a full face worthy of a 47-part YouTube tutorial. It’s choosing something and actually putting it on.
In other words, effort. Remember effort? It has had a rough few years. We want effortless hair, effortless entertaining, effortless dressing, effortless relationships, effortless success but somehow, “effortless makeup” suspiciously seems to require eleven products to look as though you used none.
I appreciate efficiency as much as the next woman. I do not need to contour my nose before buying oat milk but I think somewhere along the way, we started confusing effort with trying too hard. They aren't the same thing. Sometimes putting on lipstick is simply saying: I showed up! And right now, beauty is giving us some very good ways to do it.
START WITH THE LIP
If you buy one thing this fall, make it lipstick. A berry or wine lip does an extraordinary amount of heavy lifting. You can be wearing the same black sweater you’ve worn three times that week, add lipstick and earrings and suddenly society assumes you have plans.
For commitment-phobes, try the Revlon Super Lustrous Glass Shine Balm in Spiced Wine ($17,49). It gives you that autumn wine colour without requiring the emotional commitment of a matte red lip. It’s sheer, glossy and balm-like, which means you can apply it without locating a magnifying mirror and a steady hand.
If you’re ready to actually wear lipstick again, Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick ($8.99) is still one of those drugstore classics that makes you wonder why you've occasionally paid $50 for essentially the same emotional experience. The shade “Vampire Love” is exactly where fall is headed: rich, dark and considerably more interesting than nude number 17.
The modern trick is not to make it perfect. This season's lips are softer around the edges. Dab the colour on. Blur it slightly with a finger. Pretend you have just returned from Paris rather than the Costco gas station. Same woman. Better story.
TRADE BLACK FOR PLUM
Black eyeliner will never die. Nor should it. But plum is the woman at the dinner party you suddenly want to sit beside. It defines the eye, makes most eye colours look better and is softer than black without disappearing into the beige abyss.
Marcelle’s Kohl Eyeliner comes in Plum ($15.49) and, bonus, does not require refinancing your mortgage. Or Annabelle's Retractable Eyeliner in Plum ($12,99) does the same job for even less.
Smudge it into the lash line. The operative word here is smudge. Perfection, mercifully, is not trending.
PUT SOME LIFE BACK IN
Blush went through a phase recently where apparently the goal was to ensure it could be detected by passing aircraft. Thankfully, things have calmed down. This fall, the cheek is softer: dusty rose, brownish pink, muted colour. Enough to suggest circulation. Not enough to suggest windburn.
L’Oréal Lumi Le Liquid Blush ($22,79) is easy to sheer out, easy to build and leaves enough radiance that nobody needs to know what time you went to bed.
And then mascara because there are mornings when spiritual maturity may be attainable, but awake-looking eyes are going to require outside assistance. L’Oréal Paradise Big Deal Mascara ($24,79) gives buildable length and volume without requiring the application technique of a Renaissance painter.
Lip. Liner. Blush. Mascara. Done. Not flawless. Just done! And perhaps that distinction matters beyond the bathroom mirror because we seem to have become slightly suspicious of effort. If something requires work, maybe it isn't authentic. If the relationship takes effort, perhaps it isn't right. If joy doesn't arrive spontaneously, perhaps something is wrong. Almost everything I value has required me to keep showing up when it would have been considerably easier not to.
Scripture doesn't really promise us an effortless life. Quite the opposite. Galatians 6:9 tells us not to become weary in doing good. James tells us to draw near to God. Again and again, there is movement involved. Show up, draw near, keep going... Maybe that is why I like the return of lipstick. It is such a small thing, obviously. A swipe of pigment is not personal transformation. But intention has a way of spilling over.
So yes, put your face on. Not because you need makeup to face the world, but because sometimes choosing to show up for your own life is reason enough.
