Over the years of festive Christmas day makeup, a red lip has become must for most beauty lovers out there, including me but over the years i've built up a collection of alternative red shades to the classic festive red. With a variety of different brands, formulas and tones to choose from in todays post theres definitely a shade to suit anyone here for the festive season.

For me my favourite type of formula is a matte of some description, but as my lips are typically quite dry during this time of the year I always prep my lips with a lip balm of some description before applying any lipstick. For a super matte red, a firm favourite of mine is the Nars Audacious Lipstick (£24) in the shade 'Charlotte'. Now I could be totally biased as I share my name with this lipstick, but this shade is a true deep wintery red that I think is a lovely but still classy alternative to a cult red lip at this time of year. I also find the formula to be a lot less drying than I originally thought, even tho the formula is super matte. For a more affordable deep yet classy red shade, another favourite of mine is Topshop 'Beguilled' Lipstick (£8) which i've had in my stash for a while now and it always creeps out at this time of year. Again the formula is quite matte, but again I don't find this too drying if I apply a little amount of lip balm before hand.

Moving onto the more berry red shades, of which are probably my favourite shade of red to wear and one of my most worn has got to be Charlotte Tilbury 'Love Liberty' Matte Revolution Lipstick (£23). After winning this lipstick in a giveaway this time last year i've worn this to absolute death and i've still go a fair amount left in the bullet as I do apply it very lightly as this lipstick formula is super duper matte and is actually really pigmented. The shade itself is a lovely berry toned red that adds a nice amount of warmth to my complexion, unlike a cult red which I find washes me out. A more affordable alternative to my fave CT lipstick is a recent addition into my collection that i've been getting a fair amount of wear out of recently is the Rimmel Only One Matte Lipstick* (£6.99) in the shade  'The Matte Factor' which is such a pretty shade berry toned red shade! I personally love this recent launch from Rimmel as the lipsticks are so creamy but appear super matte making them super comfortable to wear on the lips.

The last of the festive red lipsticks picks comes from one of my favourite brands of 2016, which is of course Lancome. I've loved working with Lancome so much this year, trying out some amazing products and discovering more from a brand i've never really tried out before. A recent favourite of mine is the Lancome L'Absolu Rouge Lipstick* (£25.50) in the shade 'Rose'. As the name would suggest this lipstick is a very typical cult red shade, however it has a lovely pink undertone that adds a point of difference to your typical red shade that I personally love. The formula of this lipstick is also really creamy, making it super comfortable to wear and the pigmentation is absolutely incredible!

What are your favourite festive red shades?