Luxe lips
Doctors have a test they perform on women patients, known as The Lipstick Test. They enter the hospital room and observe whether she has applied lipstick. It's a barometer of her mood, her engagement with the world. Lipstick's been in my kit since my teens, but I took an extended hiatus in late 20's till mid-30's. I thought it looked harsh, and figured I had enough colour without it.
Then one winter day in the mid '80s, egged on by a visiting goddess-friend, I painted my lips with her Guerlain Pretty in Pink. A French guy at work went (in a proper businesslike way) nuts, blowing kisses and beaming approval. Two other men asked me if I wanted to sit with them at lunch. After work I walked straight to the nearest Guerlain counter, dropped about a hundred bucks and never looked back.
When I'm working a long day, I wear one of the paint-on semipermanents (Cover Girl Outlast is the best-lasting), because anything else wears off in 20 minutes. But for colour choice, I prefer the lusher moisturizing lipsticks.
Every once in a while I find a shade so luminous, so deep-yet-subtle, and so irresistible, I shout, "I found it!" Often, these transcendant colours flatter nearly everyone. Mine, on Anne Hathaway, above, is Lancome Rouge Sensation in Luxe.
Though loyal to Luxe, I feel like treating myself to another shade, just for a change. What is your favourite colour for summer (and brand, so we can find it)?
Comments
My favourite red is Chanel Dragon - a little deeper so not garish, but a lovely cool colour to complement my complexion.
My lips are always dry, so the "long lasting" varieties tend to not look or feel good to me. Right now I'm loving the Laura Mercier "stick glosses" (lipstick format, but smooth and a little sheer) in Baked Earth and Rosewater. I also love Dior Addict in #530 when I want something brighter (that one is a coral-pink, which mon mari says looks "pretty!"
I love the Chanel ones that come in a tube with a brush (in Creme Brulee and Petit Four) but the tube only lasts about three weeks, even though I end up applying less than other lippies, and it's too expensive to keep restocking, so I use only occasionally.
I'm going to try that Lancome Luxe, looks like a color that would work for me.
Not, that I wear the same one every day - I tend to swap around lots and wear gloss a lot too.
Also I don't think that lipstick looks that good on me, though if I could just find the right colour...
The former I have worn in summer for a couple of years.It looks like Pepto Bismol pink but it just looks great with my pale skin and blue eyes. It sounds pretty radical but I like soft pink too.
I don't feel I look good with the reds. I am going to look at Lancome now.Thanks Duchesse...
To anyone who needs a semi-permanent that's not hard on lips and really lasts, I like Almay, a drugstore brand.
Is Julie Hewitt carried at Sephora?
I can get away with a light, smudged coating of a colour that's pretty much the same as my lips when bitten. MAC's Del Rio was a good one, until I started reacting to MAC lipsticks and they peeled bits of skin off my mouth. Right now I wear mostly hints of Revlon Colourstay in Fabulous Fig, which I carefully matched with my old MAC in the cosmetics aisle of Shoppers Drug Mart. It's much more moisturising than the old superstay lipsticks I wore a decade ago (I went through a period of deeply unflattering dark reddish browns, heavily applied) but lasts very well.
Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey is an absolutely beautiful colour for summer on many people, very subtle, a bit more colour than a gloss. It still has that annoying hairtrapping gloss stickiness though; I have a tube, but every time I wear it I remember why I don't.
A few years ago, I was all about muddy, muted or dark lipstick. But these days, pinky and fresh colours seem much more exciting. Oh. And a clean red lipstick with all other makeup polished but minimal.
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My go-to color that adds glow and makes me look young and rested and happy is NARS' new "outsider" lippie. It is less orange and more rosy than in the pics online. Don't be scared off by it being a metallic or having flecks, they don't come off as the sort of thing better left to twenty-two year olds I promise. It will perk up your whole face.
For a non muddy neutral that works when you want a strong and serious but not dour look, NARS "Mindgame" is fantastic. I use it as a good neutral when I want to do a heavier eye.
I also like the Laura Mercier gloss sticks, the Poppy is a fantastic light glaze summer red that gives a bitten look to the lip and makes them seem fuller. Not harsh, not aging to the face at all, great texture. The gloss stick "Baby Lips" is possibly the best YLBB pink lippie ever made, if it lasted six hours I'd marry it.