Hi friends!
Has this ever happened to you? You buy a lipstick with the best of intentions but with very little idea as to how it will actually look on you? Yup, that happened to me a few years ago when I bought the ELF Matte Lip Color in the shade Tea Rose. I heard one of my absolute fave YouTubers, Emilynoel83, talk about it positively in one of her videos and that was about all the “research” I did before buying. (Granted the lipstick is a mere $4.00, so not much of a risk.) I got it home and immediately went to apply it; oh my goodness, it looked absolutely horrific on me! I’ll explain why.
Tea Rose is a true cool-toned lipstick that’s soft lilac, leaning towards grey. Honestly, I could see it being difficult to wear on a lot of people. This is probably the only cool-toned lipstick I have in my whole collection, so this shade is extremely unique. As someone who has a neutral-to-cool undertone, I find that cool lipsticks just drain all the life from my already pale face. So I tend to wear warmer colors that contrast nicely against my skin tone (and therefore flatter me more).
So what was I to do? I didn’t want to return the lipstick (I get super lazy with returns), so I had to find a way to make it work for me and be wearable. Lemme tell you how I do that, and perhaps it will give you some ideas if you have a similar lippy-sitch in your collection.
Read this: Is ELF Wow Brow a dupe for Glossier Boy Brow?
ELF COSMETICS MATTE LIP COLOR IN TEA ROSE
This convenient lip pencil creates exact color application with twist up ease. The pigment rich color glides on effortlessly and easily to provide long lasting matte color. The enriched Vitamin A, C & E formula moisturizes and hydrates lips for beautiful healthy looking lips. Sharpener included.

From top to bottom: ELF Tea Rose, ILIA Color Block Lipstick in Amberlight, Flower Beauty Mix n’ Matte Lip Duo in Honey Nude, Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Pillow Talk.
STEP #1 – MIXING AND PAIRING
Since I can’t wear Tea Rose on its own, I’ve found pairing it with some of my favorite neutral-to-warm pinky nude lipsticks helps to soften its starkness and coolness. The three lipsticks I most often use for this purpose are some beloved ones that you’ve heard me talk about again and again.
- ILIA Color Block Lipstick in the shade Amberlight*
- Flower Beauty Mix n’ Matte Lip Duo in the shade Honey Nude
- Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in the shade Pillow Talk
All these lip shades are quite similar to each other in tone (Honey Nude & Pillow Talk are near-dupes actually), so you absolutely don’t need all of them.
* A gifted item

Swatch of ELF Tea Rose (top); Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk (bottom).
STEP #2 – CREATE A QUICK OMBRE
I find that the ombre effect makes Tea Rose work for me. If you’re not familiar with what that is, it’s a graduation or blending of color from light to dark. In addition to making a challenging cool-toned lipstick wearable in this case, the ombre also makes your lips appear bigger and juicier. A lovey added bonus!
So this is what I do. It’s so ridiculously simple, anyone can do it. I apply a decent coat of any of the pinky nude shades listed in the previous section all over my lips. I then take Tea Rose and apply it just in the middle of both my upper and lower lips. I then use my finger to gently pat over the edges, blending the two lipstick shades into each other. What you’re left with is a slightly lighter, cooler pout in the center that gradually blends into a warmer pink towards the edges of the mouth.
The effect is subtle but still somehow impactful; it’s one of my favorite lip looks to do! (The photo below doesn’t do it enough justice sadly, but I still hope you get the idea.)

My quick, idiot-proof ombre lip look. I applied Flower Beauty Mix n’ Matte Lip Duo in Honey Nude (the lipstick end) all over my lips first, and then put the ELF Matte Lip Color in Tea Rose just in the center of both the upper and lower lips.
Do you like cool-toned lipsticks? How do you make them work on your skin tone? I’d love to know!
xo, and be well, Erica
PIN IT!
I actually love these super cool toned lipstick. It’s a vibe I guess XD but I don’t wear them often
It’s most definitely a vibe, but boy are they tricky to wear!
Love the colour you created!
Thanks so much! It’s been my go-to recently!
Great tips! I love the color you came up with. The ombre tip is such a cool idea!
Thanks Michelle!
oh my gosh I used to have a NYX creamy lipstick of the same shade and another with the same name LOL honestly the shade is lovely even on its own but I do understand how some lipsticks can be hard for some people to pull off, thats how I am with pinks which sucks haha i love the idea of blending lippies together to make some shades more wearable. i usually only blend them together when i don’t have a shade I need haha but this is a lovely idea 🙂 thanks for sharing 🙂 i’ll have to get this lippie too because i no longer have the lippies i mentioned at the beginning 🙂
I’ve been pairing lipsticks up a lot lately, and I love customizing colors too! I’m so glad I persevered and found a way to wear Tea Rose; it’s such an interesting shade and so unique.
definitely is 🙂