If you’re constructing a new closet for your insane amount of makeup, you may need to edit your strategy a bit. All the magazines point to seasonal makeup trends (remember, they need to ink some news!), but who’s dictating your closet has to keep up?

Case in point: the lipstick. Many women think lipstick colors are as seasonal as the episodes of Desperate Housewives. The general rule is that in the cooler months, the emphasis is on dark red tones. Warmer months bow down to lighter pink tones.

But who is creating these rules anyway? We asked two very different women their thoughts:

• Celia Marchand, a makeup artist working for high fashion magazines, agrees that women should adhere to changing trends. “If you want to stay current in fashion, it not only pertains to your clothes but your makeup as well. You don’t want to look too harsh in, say, the summer months wearing a deep crimson red lipstick. It looks very unnatural.”

• On the other hand, we also asked Danielle Rosen, an everyday woman, how she feels about the issue. “I’m a mother of three young boys. While I do try and stay current with the fashion and makeup trends, I have only one lipstick shade that I use for all seasons. It’s a neutral tone of red, so it works year round. I don’t have time or money to change makeup every few months.”

I agree that one shade can work year round. It is both time and cost-effective. The shade that I use all year from winter to fall is by one of my favorite makeup brands, Stila. The shade, Ella, a brownish-pink shimmer, is universal enough that it can be worn in both the cooler and warmer months without any fashion faux pas.

Save your pennies and invest in a lipstick palette that holds more than one color. Now you can use your closet for other (i.e. more stylish) things besides your Guinness Book of Records lipstick collection.