Are you a woman running for office? Let's face it - whether you are already a makeup junkie or not, you have to review what is appropriate to wear for photo shoots, informal gatherings and formal speaking engagements. I reviewed these same issues with my beauty routine when I started working, campaigning for a semi-public official role at the Minnesota State Legislature and when I had to go to Board meetings. I didn't have thousands of dollars to spend on a stylist to transform my look like other celebrity politicians.

Here's the catch-22: If you don't wear makeup you look tired and washed out. If you wear too much, people don't take you seriously. So the key seems to be to wear enough so you cover any dark eye circles and blemishes but not so much so that people are talking about your lipstick, eyeliner or eyeshadow and not your key message.

So then, what lip stick color schemes are appropriate? After flipping through pages of Hillary Clinton's photos online, I saw that she stuck with three color schemes for her day look: corals, nudes and pinks. She rarely wore reds or plums unless it was a photo shoot for a portrait or gala.

Corals

Image from a luncheon on "Inclusive Finance: A Path to the MDGs," hosted jointly by the United States and the Netherlands at the Helmsley Hotel in New York, New York, September 22, 2010

Nudes

Video image from abcnews.go.com from May 12, 2015

Pinks

Image from the Daily Signal from June 15, 2015

My lipstick tips for your campaign would be:

Know Your Skin Tone - what goes well with it? There are hundreds (maybe even thousands) of shades in corals, nudes and pinks. Know what works with your features.
MakeUp Genius App - to do the above, download this app and play with it. This app is amazing! It uses facial recognition to apply makeup on you so you can see what looks good. You can save the images and share them with your trusted friends to find your campaign look. This app is only for L'Oreal brands, but after you decide on a color you can always look for the same shade in your brand of choice.
Practice - If you're not a regular lipstick person, the last thing you want to do is to only wear the lipstick to your event and not know what it looks like after a few hours of talking, eating or being in the sun. If you're going to use a few go-to lipsticks, wear them before the event in similar circumstances and understand how the product works with your lips.
Lipstick Routine - I find it best to exfoliate with a sugar scrub first. Afterwards, apply the lipstick. Blot it off. Re-applying it makes the lipstick stay on longer. You can also buy lipstick primer/lip liner to keep the product on your lips longer too.

For the record, I think it's very offensive when the media focuses on a female candidate's appearance instead of her campaign message. This post is to help those running for office to be proactive and think about a potentially small issue like "lipstick color" ahead of time so it doesn't become a hindrance to your real goal- winning the seat in office!