Throughout my teen years and my time at university, my lips seemed somewhat bright. With a limited student allowance and an even smaller make-up budget, Barry M fuchsia pink lipstick became my best friend. I always felt the more my lips stood out the better, I mean why would I spend £5 on a nude lipstick, the brighter the better, right? WRONG.

As I matured and turned into the young lady I was supposed to become, I decided enough was enough. Getting a full-time job and a bigger makeup budget meant I had the opportunity to try and buy different lip products.

This is when I fell in love with nude lipstick. Nude says subtle yet feminine, for both a working day and a night look. You can dress it up with a smokey eye and volume lashes, or keep it subtle with a bright eye and fresh face. Here are my top 3 Mac nude lipstick shades – for different occasions.

So, kicking off  with one of my favourite nude shades or should I say everyone’s must have lipstick since the Kylie Jenner’s lip craze – MAC Velvet Teddy. I had been waiting for this to come back in store for a while, so when I finally got the notification that the shade had become available online I had to buy it… within minutes.

Like all mac lipsticks, the Velvet Teddy smells divine, one perk of buying mac lipstick. Using this shade along with the Mac Spice lipliner helps when I want to create a poutier look, the shade has a deeper tone than my other nude lipsticks, perfect when I’m going for the full contour/ false lash look – well worth the anticipation.

Honey Love, I got this as a birthday gift and it is my go to for the office. Unlike the Velvet Teddy shade, when wearing Honey Love I don’t heavily draw my lips with lipliner. The reason being, throughout the day I prefer a softer, more natural look. Honey Love gives me the natural nude lips, I’m not without it Monday – Friday.

Please Me, although this shade isn’t a natural nude and is more of a pinky rose colour, I still use this to help master the nude look. When I wear it, I team it up with a nude lipliner, like Spice. This helps to create a deep rose, nude shade (out of all three this is my favourite!) This creates a feminine and more of a warm look, which I adore with smokey eyes, full lashes and contour.

So there you have it, my 3 Mac nude essential shades, go out and try them, you will fall in love. + remember, bold isn’t always best.