Comment on another Blog - On Lipsticks

My friend Neva of Let Me Be Blunt …, wrote recently about a friend’s compliment on how terrific she looked (which she does)and attributed it to her lipstick. Neva claims never to leave home without putting on lipstick. I belong to that club, too. It got me to thinking about that luscious stuff. Thanks, Neva! My daughter also blogged about the curative power of lipsticks and how purchasing one is a real spirit lifter. That is so true.

An Ode to Lipstick.

I read once that lipstick gives the face balance. That is true, but I think there is much more to lipstick than that. Lipstick is usually the first make up a girl is allowed to wear. A girl knows she looks pretty when she puts on lipstick. It is a powerful feeling. My six grade girls wear pink lip gloss. I don’t remember the color of my own first lipstick but I remember my sister’s. It was Revlon’s “Powder Pink” and it looked exactly like congealed Pepto-Bismol. It was gross. It looked gross on every girl who wore it. Fads cannot be explained by logic. Powder Pink will probably rise again and be as wildly popular as black nail polish.

In the 1960’s lipstick became so pale that it looked like one wasn’t wearing it at all. Lots of dark eye make up, and false eye lashes. Ah, the raccoon look. I knew one girl who actually wore foundation on her lips instead of lipstick. Not a good look.

My lips aren’t bad. Not big. Not too small. I am not unhappy with my lips. I never would consider the lip injections. Melanie Griffith’s lips now look like those old pictures of Lucille Ball (of “I Love Lucy”) who would paint outside the natural lines of her lips. That held a horrible fascination for me. Who would purposely go after that look? Does Antonio Banderas really want to kiss those lips? Yuck.

My sister has had lipstick issues from the beginning as her lips are small and thin. Actually, her lips are pretty but she has never felt comfortable with lipstick. She claims she eats it off as soon as she puts it on. A few years ago I bought her some lipstick that claimed to be “Industrial Strength”. Okay, they didn’t say that but that was the meaning. I picked out a color that I thought would be flattering, Bonnie insisted it was exactly the same color as angle worms. She was right. She gave the tube back to me but I never actually wore it because of the worm connotation.

Lipstick, unfortunately, likes my teeth. I always brush my teeth after lunch at school, powder my nose and put on fresh lipstick. There is always a student who kindly points out that I have lipstick on my teeth. By the end of the year neither the students nor I am embarrassed by this ritual. At least they tell me, unlike adults.

I have a special love for red lipstick; red that is on the verge of orange. Oh, that is my favorite. One can’t stock up on lipstick as it does go bad. That sounds like a country song, doesn’t it, “When Good Lipstick Goes Bad Then My Dog Runs Away”. I think that could be a hit.

Also, you have to cull lipsticks. Free lipsticks are never a good idea. They are rarely a good color. Also, lipsticks sometimes end up being a different color in the light of day than they are at the point of purchase. Case in point, any purple lipstick is potentially disastrous. Woman buy them because they see doctored pictures of models who look gorgeous and sexy in purple lipstick, but no real human has actually pulled that look off. It has never happened and never will, yet the stores are full of them. The landfill is their resting place. RIP.

Men, you do not understand woman’s relationship with lipstick and don’t even presume that you do. It is primal, and you should respect that.