Short Lipstick Vignettes
Today’s holiday du jour is National Lipstick Day, a favorite of mine. Women are posting lipstick love all over social media and I’m loving it.
Famous British makeup artist, Lisa Eldridge is asking for one word descriptions of how lipstick makes her followers feel. So far, “brave”, “empowered”, “finished”, and “alluring” are registered responses but no doubt there will be more before midnight. Many are posting beloved discontinued favorites and I am struck that these women can still recall not only the brand of their vanished lipstick but the actual name of the color too. “Palace Pink” by Estee Lauder would be mine. I wore it on my wedding day…
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My grandmother wore a creamy raspberry lipstick, a drugstore brand that she kept in a plastic cosmetic bag in her purse. It was the only makeup she owned and even being a little girl, I saw how much it enlivened her face and brightened it.
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A friend’s mother used to buy a tube of lipstick downtown to wear on dates. But the next morning, the lipstick would be gone from her dresser, having been swiped by her mother and placed in a hidden box. Her mother didn’t want her to use cosmetics and this was their silent struggle. It wasn’t until years and years later, that my friend’s mother found the box of lipsticks among her mother’s belongings. It never stopped her from buying yet another lipstick, however.
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I met the same friend’s mother, then 91 years old. After dinner, she pulled the shard of a dime-store mirror out of her handbag along with a frosted pink lipstick. I looked over at my friend who winked at me and said, “After every meal…” Lipstick is always a woman’s companion, no matter what her age.
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A chum of mine wrote in my high school yearbook that I would be successful in life as long as I had lipstick. She may have been right about that.
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I’ve written several articles about lipstick over the years and I believe it is more popular than ever. Even knitters are matching lipstick colors to their handknits. One podcaster who models her finished sweaters, keeps her lipstick nearby knowing that several viewers will ask her for the brand and color.
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I’m still wearing my mother’s lipsticks. They are such personal cosmetics and they make me feel close to her.
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There were no shortages of shops to buy lipstick in my hometown. My first one was by Love Cosmetics – the brand with the clear futuristic cap. As fantastical as the container was, the color was a cross between a circus peanut and a Cheez-It. Thankfully, my mother DID confiscate it but she never questioned my right to have it.
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Economists are stating that lipstick sales are increasing right now as they often do in challenging economies. During World War II, many women wore Victory Red, a patriotic color and the one cosmetic that was still affordable.
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An appalling number of lipsticks came into my home during the lockdown. Lipstick helped me to feel better and gave me a small sense of control. Below is a list of some new favorites:
Lisa Eldridge’s Je ne sais quoi, a gift from my best friend
Charlotte Tilbury First Dance
Revlon Pink in the Afternoon
Olivia Palermo’s Poppy
What is your favorite lipstick?
7 Comments
Barbara
I LOVED Pot o’ Gloss! It was my first ever makeup.
Back in the very early 70’s, I worked at a department store and a little boy got separated from his mom. We teen aged sales girls tried to help and asked “What does your mom look like?” He said, “She’s very beautiful and wears Revlon Love That Red lipstick.”
A Lovely Inconsequence
Oh my Barbara, that is hilarious! Precious boys and their mothers!
Tracy
Right now Mac Fanfare seems to suit this stage of my life. It works for all occasions. It has a lovely sheen and is a pink that is not too precious that flatters. Stands in as a quick rouge pop if needed.
Chanel Sirocco (discontinued) was a favorite. Beautiful metallic shine.
Rimmel Airy Fairy worked well when I was a brunette but maybe not so well with my salt and pepper hair.
Could go on forever with this topic…..
A Lovely Inconsequence
Lipsticks unit women Tracy!
Amy
Revlon “Persian Melon”!
Lore has it that it was the only lipstick Delta flight attendants could wear in the 1950s. It brighens up my face without appearing garish.
A Lovely Inconsequence
Oh Amy! I never heard that before!
Karen
Oh I loved these little vignettes! Thank you so much for sharing them! my favorite? Does a discontinued and no longer existing lipstick count? My favorite lipstick was Yardley’s famous Pot O Gloss, specifically “Macintosh Red”. My first encounter with red lipstick, came from a very exotic high school chum named Elena Barreto. She took me aside one day at a pickup tag football game and gave me a swipe of her Pot O Gloss “Red” after asking me why I never bothered to wear lipstick? I ignored the implied insult and gave it a try. When I caught sight of my suddenly glamorous face, I ran, not walked, to the local drugstore that very day and bought some for myself and never looked back. That pinky-dippy little pot, filled with color, shine, and possibilities, became a permanent fixture. The floral scent, the satin gleam, the slick texture and slight heaviness the gloss gave to my lips made 16-year-old me feel like a woman grown. I was never without it for the rest of my high school career, and in fact was quite well known for wearing bright red or deep plum or shiny wine colored lips! One time my lips were *so* red that my homeschool teacher jokingly suggested that I give her a quick kiss to get rid of some of the excess. I smilingly refused; in fact I think I somewhat aggressively put on yet another coat!
Currently, my favorite lipstick is also a Lisa Eldridge one, her intoxicatingly deep Luxuriuosly Lucent “Painterly”- a rich plum wine color that gives me the same delicious sense of empowerment that the late, lamented and much loved Pot O Gloss “Walnut” did. Oh, the power of that quick little swipe of glossy, cheering color and shine!