compliments of style.com

click for full slideshow… I share my highlights below :)

Photo: The Art Archive / Musée des Beaux-Arts Antwerp

The Beauty of the Nile: Lipstick is thought to have originated in Ur, an ancient city in what is present-day Iraq, but it quickly gained favor in nearby Egypt, where women and men applied makeup as part of their daily routines. Red was the color of choice of the royals. Cleopatra allegedly mixed pigment from crushed carmine beetles with an ant egg base to get her russet-colored pout.

Photo: Getty Images

Kiss of Death: In ancient Greece, red lip paint was largely the domain of prostitutes. But as most trends are wont to do, the look traveled from the street to the elite, who created their berry and wine tints from mulberries, seaweed, and the considerably less safe vermilion. The reddish pigment derived from ground mercuric sulfide was ultimately deemed poisonous.

Photo: Milton Greene / Picture Post / IPC Magazines / Getty Images

Some Like It Hot: More brands with more competitive marketing strategies began appearing on the scene in the 1950′s, a decade in which lipstick remained the essential item in every woman’s makeup bag. Hollywood icons like Marilyn Monroe helped keep vivid shades of red among consumers’ favorites.

Photo: Pictorial Parade / Getty Images

The Nude Review: It wasn’t until the late fifties and sixties, with the addition of titanium, that lipstick began to diversify across the color spectrum. A collective embrace of light, frosted lipsticks in colors like pale pink, lavender, and white came into vogue, with German countess-turned-model Veruschka leading the charge.

Photo: Everett Collection

Suddenly Sanguine: The 1980′s marked a return to red, with makeup artist Way Bandy’s late-seventies glossy, Studio 54 lip (channeled at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent for Fall) segueing into a more matte, post-punk look that was widely adapted by everyone from Madonna to First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Photo: Mick Hutson / Getty Images

Doll Parts: With the arrival of grunge in the nineties, shades of brown and brick red of the sort preferred by Hole front woman Courtney Love dominated public preferences, runways, and editorial spreads.

Photo: Courtesy of Karen Walker

Best in Show: Whether or not it was first, makeup artist Maxine Leonard’s orange lip at Karen Walker—a combination of two MAC Pro Cream Colour Base hues, Orange Alarm and Rich Coral—was certainly one of the best versions of the popular shade for Fall.

YSL LIPSTICKS ARE THE BEST!!!!  they have the perfect balance between moisturizing while still maintaining a dry/matte consistency…

Tangerine Dream:  Yves Saint Laurent’s Rouge Volupté Lipstick in No. 15 offers the perfect shade of orange-y red with a rich, creamy finish for just the right amount of shine.  Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupté Lipstick in No. 15, $34, www.yslbeautyus.com.

Photo: Courtesy of Antonio Berardi

a go to for the season – The Pinkest Pout:  Keeping last Spring’s fuchsia trend alive, makeup artist Jenn Karsten created a serious magenta lip backstage at Antonio Berardi’s Fall show, using MAC’s Madly Magenta Cream Colour Base topped off with Pigment in Magenta Madness.

Photo: Greg Kessler

Lips of the Living Dead: Black lips were one of Fall ’08′s most striking and strange runway trends. For Fall ’09, a more subdued, morbid gray color dominated the catwalks, most notably at Rodarte, where makeup artist James Kaliardos whipped up his own sheered-out version of the shade using MAC Pro Lipmix in black.

this scares me!!

Clowning Around: Rachel Roy wanted the models at her Fall presentation to look like mannequins, so she asked makeup artist Bobbi Brown for a dark berry lip that verged on black. “It’s strong but not tacky,” Brown says of the plum noir shade she created with black clown makeup, topped off with a berry lipstick and her patented Crystal Lip Gloss—a look that made repeat appearances in New York and across the pond.