We always get questions about which shades will make teeth look whiter and brighter. Obviously nobody wants to wear a lipstick that make your teeth look yellow, but there are certain tones of liquid lipstick that can really make teeth appear whiter. Since we’ve had so many questions on this topic, we thought it might be helpful to share some of our lipsticks and liquid lipsticks that will help your teeth look whiter.

As it turns out, if you want your teeth to look whiter with lipstick, you really just need to pay attention to the undertones of a lipstick. Different shades of a lipstick can all have different undertones – most people will describe a lipstick as having blue, warm (yellow or orange), or neutral (neither warm or cool). As a general rule of thumb, a lipstick that has blue or cool undertones will make teeth look whiter and brighter.

Why do certain lipstick shades make teeth look whiter?
It is all about the blue undertones. Why do lipsticks with blue undertones matter? It all has to do with the standard color wheel. Blue is on the opposite side of yellow on the color wheel so a blue-undertone will help to counteract the yellowing in the teeth. If there is any sort of yellow coloring to the teeth, a lipstick with blue-undertones will definitely help make teeth look whiter.

This is a standard color wheel - any color opposite of the yellow tones will make teeth look whiter.  Any lipstick or liquid lipstick with blue or purple undertones will also make teeth appear whiter.  

(side note: we actually use a color wheel while we're formulating lipstick colors in our lab.  If we need to adjust batches or make a shade less yellow, we'll often reference the color wheel so we know which color to add.  A lot of times, we will add blue to make the batch less yellow)

Which liquid-to-matte lipsticks have the flattering blue-undertones to make teeth look whiter?
Here are a few of our favorite liquid matte lipsticks with blue tones. This is not an exhaustive list, but just some of our favorites.

Pink Peonies


This shade is one where we constantly have people telling us that this shade make teeth look whiter. Pink peonies matte liquid lipstick actually has blue colorant in the formula so it is definitely one of the most flattering pink shades on the market.

Pink Periwinkle

Purple is also opposite yellow on the color wheel so this shade will help teeth look whiter.

Flamenco Red

Flamenco red is our “true red” shade as it has blue-undertones.  Flamenco red, neon red, power red, preppy red.

Forbidden Fuchsia 

Forbidden fuchsia matte liquid lipstick is our fuchsia, berry-toned shade.  This shade actually has a lot of blue added into the formula so that make this shade extra flattering.

Red Dahlia

Red dahlia is a dark maroon shade with blue undertones.  L:R Vamptastic plum, black cherry, red dahlia, rich rosewood, power red.  Vamptastic plum is a dark violet-plum shade.  Black cherry is a dark plum and is our darkest liquid lipstick shade.  Rich rosewood is our traditional maroon shade and power red is our dark red.

Miss Mauve

Miss mauve is a mauve shade with blue-undertones. This shade actually has blue dye in this formula so this shade is definitely a shade that will make teeth appear whiter.

Desert taupe is a really unique nude shade because it has greyish undertones.  This shade is our grey-beige or "greige" liquid lipstick shade.  We often hear customer tell us this shade has an almost lavender tone to it.  This shade does have grey undertones so it also makes it a flattering shade to help make teeth appear whiter.