Friday, September 17, 2010

Lipstick

Lipstick!  Lipstick.  L I P S T I C K.  When I take a moment and ponder the word lipstick, it sounds so weird.  An awkward word but a magnificent tool.  I’ve been pondering the application of wax and color to my kisser lately because I have returned to my favorite from younger days; bright red lipstick.

I’m grateful to my Dad for raising me with the confidence that makeup was unnecessary and often overdone.  Of course I still slapped on the electric blue eyeliner and rosy pink blush every time I was at my pal Carey’s house.  I think it was a good look on me as a twelve year old....if you are into teenage prostitution.  UGH!  I thought I looked so grown up then.

As a truly of age adult I cringe when I see young girls caking on the eyeliner ala Avril Lavigne, or even grown women with a heavy hand when putting their face on.  My heart aches that they feel the need to cover up who they are to be beautiful.  I’m still sad ten years later at a long distant friend who was gorgeous bare faced but smeared on tons of foundation to cover her freckles. (They weren’t Opie Taylor spots either...they were what freckles wish to be).  Too much makeup is not good, but lipstick, there is always room for lipstick.

As a stay at home Betty Crocker meets Donna Reed style Mama, my workweek rarely requires clean clothes let alone coiffed hair and a fully made up face.  I’m happy to have this emotional and logistic freedom from makeup but for one thing:  lipstick.  I love how I feel when I have color on my lips.  To be frank my pucker is practically ghost white and wholly unremarkable sans tint...but with lipstick I feel like a starlet.

My Grandma always said lipstick brightens you up a bit....tho I do not choose her sugar candy pink color for my kisser.  I’m more of a mauve-y, toasted toffee-y kind of girl depending on the day. For daily wear I used to love the MAC lipstick my pal Jean gave me in Twig.  After a recent NPR expose on the lead content and other nasties in traditional lip lacquer I’ve converted to Aveda lipstick in Kashmir Brown for my daily wear.  I especially enjoy the way it smells and tastes, knowing it is all natural is just a plus.  The average lipstick wearing gal will ingest four pounds of lipstick over her lifetime...GACK!

Speaking of taste...most of us girls wear lipstick just for us right?  Not to appeal to our pals or the menfolk right?  But assuming that we do smooth on a special color for that special man...does he really love it?  I do have to remind all of us that the loves in our life might like the look of our colored kissers, but probably not the taste!  It has long been said we women actually preen more for other women than for the men in our lives.  I think lipstick is the most obvious nod to that.  When my lips look the best for kissing they might not be the most hospitable.  When you realize it is usually dyed oil and wax a good ol flavored lip gloss might be a bit more enticing!

My hubby and I often play “Lip Dodge” depending on the freshness and color depth of my lips any given day.  I don’t want him to smear my artfully applied lip-base-plus-lip-liner-plus-lipstick-blotted-and-reapplied-plus-a-dot-of gloss-in-the-center-of-my-lower-lip to make my lips appear fuller.  Or maybe he just doesn’t want to look like he was in a paintball fight if it is one of my scarlet red lipstick days.  I cannot blame him.  (And most lipstick doesn’t taste great unless you regress to sugary Bonne Bell lip glosses in a root beer flavor, YUM!) So when you see me in my scarlet red lipstick just know I am more likely to be stirring a pot on the stove than romance with my hubby!

Broadcast by Heather Curlee Novak on September 17, 2010 • WVPE's Audio Archive
Customs & Rituals • Women & Men • Permalink • Printer Friendly
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