As someone who loves all makeup, yet, like many women, is a bit cautious in the everyday wearing of crazy colors and styles, lipstick can be your best friend. Though it can occasionally impede anything more provocative than a light kiss from your significant other, it is sometimes a necessary and worthwhile sacrifice.

I think lipstick can really transform your face because the color of your lips is an instant attention grabber. I myself have a very basic pinkish tone to my lips and therefore, by adding a bright or even a darker shade of lipstick, my face instantly transforms. Lipstick is also great because it isn’t a difficult task to conquer. Where eyeliner can end with you looking frazzled and filling in your eyebrows leads to an overly surprised look, a quick swipe of lipstick can take you from dressed to finished. It is great for every day, with colors such as Baci by Stila. This color, which I would define as mauve, is a great compliment to my freckled face. The color itself is incredibly matte which makes this a great everyday color.

For a night out, especially when copious amounts of drinking and/or eating are involved, I lean towards my go to Nars Matte Lip Pencil in Bahama. This color, again defined as “pink brown” by trusty Sephora.com, is an amazing way for a pale girl to do a darker brown lip. My grandma told me I looked like Morticia Addams, but I decided to take this as a compliment. This color and texture wear incredibly well all night, with sporadic reapplications for Instagram worthy moments.

My final look would be the iconic red lip. After half an hour in Sephora with a 15-minute consultation with a Sephora employee, I was able to discover the perfect shade, Make Up Forever’s Rouge Artist Intense number 43. This is a true-blue shade of red and, once again, is great for us pale-faced beauties. There are many wonderful reds out there that have an orange undertone that look amazing on other people, but for me, the blue-red is what works best. This color does wonders as it is rich and has great staying power.

For the deeper colors, such as reds, hot pinks, and corals, I set my lips with an eye shadow brush and some of my powder foundation. This keeps my color from bleeding and helps my bank account, as I do not feel the need to buy the coordinating lip liner to my more than 20-piece lipstick collection.

All in all, my friends have slowly started referring to me as a lipstick connoisseur and this has only perpetuated my need to acquire more. I feel like an old Hollywood star – and sometimes Kylie Jenner – and I think a good combination of both makes for a well-rounded look. Though my brother will continue to ask me if I have been eating crayons again, I can’t stop (and won’t stop) my love of clicking open the classic black tube and twisting up the color of the day.