OBSESSED: Navy Blue Lipstick

Do you ever wonder why some cosmetic colors are considered "normal" while others are still strictly in the "offbeat" category? Like, who decided bright red lips were completely acceptable, but forest green ones were not? I know common lipstick colors generally imitate natural lip shades, but we overlook this rule for a lot of other cosmetics. For a majority of the past century, it was basically impossible to even purchase certain colors of lipstick, nail polish, or eyeshadow. Luckily, you can find almost any shade of makeup you want today, although the most popular and widely sold lip colors remain within the typical rainbow of reds and pinks.

Don't get me wrong - reds and pinks are awesome; that's what I wear nearly every day. But when I saw a photo of a dark navy blue lipstick recently, I got a little obsessed. It stuck in my brain until I found myself casually googling, and eventually obsessively googling, and pinteresting and instagraming and bookmarking...you know, the typical slippery slope.

Some inspiration {L to R: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven}

The ideas commonly associated with colors tend to hold true in lipsticks: red is bold and fiery, pink is sweet and girly, skin tones are clean and simple. When I think navy blue I think preppy, classic, neutral (I mean, it represents like 90% of school uniforms), but when I see navy blue lipstick, none of those associations apply. I think that's because of the set "rules" about makeup colors and what's considered "normal" or "weird," but someone somewhere just made those ideas up. Shades like cranberry or eggplant are in the same neighborhood as navy, but those are made by companies like Revlon and sold in every drugstore, whereas very few mainstream cosmetic companies make any kind of blue lipstick at all. 

To me, a deep navy shade can look vivid and unusual while still looking chic. I'd love to see velvety deep navy lips become a vampy standard, and I'm going to do my part to see that it does. 

Here are some navy lip colors I'm loving:

Kat Von D, OCC, LA Splash, DNA Cosmetics, Illamasqua, NYX

Would you wear navy lipstick? Do you often wear any other "weird" lipstick shades? What's the craziest makeup look you've ever tried?