Shocking Pink Lips

Ever since Gossip Girl started last year, I've been getting more encouraged to try out more makeup. One of the things that I've been inspired to try out is shocking pink lipstick. I tried to find pictures of Blair Wardolf wearing bright pink lipstick but I can't seem to find any (-ignore the fact that Leighton Meester's lips aren't exactly bright pink in the picture.) Maybe I just imagined her having bright pink lips. Anyway, by chance, I got hold of a free bright pink lipstick, which is way too sparkly for my taste but hey, it was free so I feel the duty to at least experiment with it. So here's some research into how to wear it:

Bright pink lips seemed to be pretty popular on the runway in S/S07. In the Diane von Furstenburg show, the look seemed to be basically bright pink lips with pale, clear skin and natural-looking mascara. Note the tiny bit of shimmer on the inner corners of the eyes. Also, note the hint of gold/ orange in the inner edge of the lips.

Solid, matte bright pink at the Bradgley Mischka S/S08 show. The other makeup used seems pretty similar, except there is more blush used here, and the skin is not as bright and perfect as in the DvF show.

Then things got much more dramatic on the Christian Dior F/W08. The pink lips are glossy and the brows are heavily painted in. The foundation on the skin also seems a lot of powedery.

So when I actually try out this look, I'll probably go with something very similar to the DvF S/S07 look, but without bothering with the gold in the lips. While I think bright pink lips looks cool and edgy and girly in magazine editorials and on TV, I'm still not sure how bright pink lips actually work in real life. My main question is, do people actually wear shocking pink lipstick in real life?

Image Credit: http://youknowyouloveme.org/, http://www.style.com/, http://www.maccosmetics.com/