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My mother wore very little makeup unless there was a party, a wedding or a funeral. But she always wore red lipstick. I’d perch on her bed and watch her outline her lips, then slowly tint her lips a vibrant red.
I couldn’t wait until it was my turn, and while I was only three, I knew I could do this alone. Without guidance.
One day, while she was at work, I broke into her makeup case. There were so many tubes of lipstick! I applied the bright red color, and with Mom’s hand mirror, I admired my mature beauty, smacking my lips like a baby monkey.
I needed more, so I added shades of dark berry, peach and toffee. That’s when my grandmother, who was at our home cooking, found me four shades deep. “Oh! You look gorgeous!” she giggled. “Can I try some?” I carefully applied the peach color on my grandmother’s upper lip and the berry on her lower lip.
“Wait until your mom sees us!” she whispered. We sat on the couch, admiring each other while we waited for her to come home.
When Mom arrived, my grandmother we called Gran said: “How beautiful do we look?” Mom’s eyes got super wide, and she grabbed her chest. Gran’s upper lip was smeared with the peach color and the dark berry shade was starting to leak down to her chin. I looked awful, too.
Lipstick appears to have been a girl's best friend for centuries. Research on Cleopatra cites that she wore red lipstick created from flowers, fish scales, crushed ants, carmine and beeswax. I can’t believe she ever got kissed — though we know, of course, she did!
When the Roaring Twenties rolled in with the flapper-influence, women wore bright shades of red. They were confident and sexy in their clothes, attitudes and stand-out lips.
In 1941, red lipstick became required for women entering the U.S. Marines. Elizabeth Arden created Montezuma Red, a bright red that matched the piping on their uniforms. The same year, Arden came out with Victory Red for unlisted women to show their patriotism. Then came Revlon's Fire and Ice Collection which made its debut in 1952, with matching colors for lips and nails.
Lipstick binds generations of women with this common trait: Shiny red or hot pink, when applied to lips properly, both exude look-at-me confidence and sex appeal. Lipstick lovers Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball, Elizabeth Taylor, Gwen Stefani and Madonna certainly embody both ... pop/rock goddess Taylor Swift has inspired a whole new generation of glistening red pouts.
I remember the day the lipstick gene was passed onto my own children, in my house. Thirty years and five children after my own smeared lipstick mess, I found my toddler daughter, Jamie, sitting on my bed with her back to me. She was talking into my make-up mirror, saying: “Oh, you are so beautiful!” Then I heard the baby monkey's lip-smacking sound! Her lips were thickly covered in shades of tangerine and cherry red.
I promised to take her to buy her lipstick that very day. As I buckled her in the car, I gave her the lipstick rules:
“Lipstick is only for lips. Don’t waste it on your dolls, the dog or your baby brother.”
She was so happy when I purchased a strawberry-scented four-pack of lip gloss at the drugstore. “I wanted this my whole life!” she exclaimed dramatically, holding her hand over her heart. Ha! For her whole toddler life, she’d been waiting!
Then we came upon Revlon’s Fire and Ice display of their “super lustrous” gorgeous shades. Her blue eyes lit up, and she gasped, “Oh my gosh! What are these?” A photo of a beautiful model was smiling at us, sporting Retro Red lipstick. Her white teeth sparkled, and I couldn’t resist adding a tube of Retro Red to my own basket.
I felt my hips sway as we made our way to check out. I was feeling so sassy!
One day while visiting my daughter I could hear laughter as soon as I walked in the door. “Mom, guess who loves lipstick?” Jamie asked. My youngest grandchild, Ami, had smeared her own lips with Sephora’s Flame Shimmer Cherry Red Hydrating Lip Gloss and told her mom, “I’ve been waiting for this my whole life!”
At 71, I loved this little reminder that we’re never too old or young to put a little lipstick on. It just makes us feel better. The right shade brightens our spirits. And the right shade could shift with time.
After wearing a mauve color for the last decade, I’ve moved on to Revlon’s Cha Cha Cherry. And, I know I will change it up when I turn 80!
How many of you still wear lipstick? What color do you wear? Let us know in the comments below.
Stocksy
