Lipstickin’ It To Ya!

The sun is shining and the roads are cleared of any snow and ice. The “big” snow may not have affected the area that I live in, but it affected my hair stylist. He got snowed in! My color, trim and blowout have to be rescheduled. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be looking rather “fetching” once more!  Naturally, I received this news after I put my make up on—and I even took the time out  to apply a matte lipstick. Darn!

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve had to change my lipstick routine.   Has that happened to you? I guess it’s because our skin needs more hydration, but once the weather gets cold, my lips are in a constant state of chapped. If I don’t moisturize the area around my mouth, my entire mouth gets turkey neck. Oh god, it’s just so disgusting—turkey neck and turkey mouth—ewww!

Somewhere along the make-up product process, though, tubes of lipstick passed me by. I was never much of an actual “lipstick” person. My choice was gloss. Shiny, wet, glistening gloss! Gloss would smear onto my eyeglasses; it would leave inch-deep markings on coffee mugs and cocktail glasses. It never stayed on my lips for more than ten minutes but it didn’t matter because I always had a tube of gloss at the ready! I was a regular Hot Lips Houlihan!

As I aged, and as my lips became drier, I realized that less color was just more attractive so I traded the gloss in for Chapstick. (I have to admit, other than my addiction to nasal spray—which is another story in itself, my addiction to Chapstick is epic. I have tubes of the stuff all over the house, in the car, and in every purse.)

About two years ago, in a moment of “I-really-need-to-try-red-lipstick”, I purchased a tube of MAC’s “Ruby Woo”. Ruby Woo is a beautiful, matte shade of red. It’s gorgeous. Beauty “experts” (unlike me) say it is flattering on everyone. It looked horrific on me. Bonaparte actually ran away from me after he saw me wearing it!   The purchase was disastrous.   My next and most recent matte lipstick purchase was Make Up Forever’s Rouge Artist Intense in Number 36, Fuschia Satin. (I mentioned lipstick this in another posting.)   After much trial and error I finally figured out how to wear a matte lipstick—and trust me, the only reason I wear this lipstick is because it is long lasting. *caveat—the beauty “experts” may find my preparation cringe-worthy.

• First, I take a facecloth and scrub my lips really hard. It gets rid of all that dryness and makes them smoother.
• Next, I take my chapstick and pull a Baby Jane. I apply the Chapstick on my lips, above my mouth (It fills in those fine lines) and under my mouth.
• Then I take a flesh colored pencil and line my lips very lightly. I don’t want a visible line. NYX Wonder Pencil in “Medium” is the perfect flesh toned shade!
• Then I take the matte lipstick and I “dab” the color on my mouth, being careful to keep the color within the boundaries of the mouth.
• Then I blot the color on a tissue
• I finally apply a clear gloss or a very lightly pink gloss. I LOVE Neutrogena’s lip gloss tube in “Gleam”. Done. YES. That’s my lips. The same exact ones in the photo way, way above with the “turkey” mouth! Lighting and proper application and a good camera angle DO matter! And YES, I am wearing  Make Up Forever Rouge Artist Intense in Fuschia Satin Number 36. I just dabbed it on lightly! Pretty–isn’t it???

Does it upset me that I don’t have that luscious, bee-stung mouth I had when I was younger?   With a shrug, not really. I’m going to be 60 years old in a few months. I’m not young anymore. Gotta keep it real.

You know what really bothers me? The lipstick and lip color ads in magazines. Older women wear lip color—whether it’s lipstick or gloss or balm. I don’t think the cosmetics companies are aware of this.   Take a look at any woman’s magazine. All of the lip color ads feature young, perfect lips that we used to have.   Why can’t one of the major cosmetics companies come up with a lipstick that would be beneficial to older women? Why can’t the cosmetics companies show an ad for lipstick with an older woman’s mouth? I want to see how certain colors would look on someone that I can relate to! I need to get a better visual of how a product will appear on my aging visage!

What a rant—huh? I meant to write about my travel beauty bag today. The travel bag will be the next posting!

Have a great afternoon and evening.

For your listening pleasure, and keeping on the subject of “lips”, here’s the Go-Go’s with “Our Lips Are Sealed”! The video has a nice little explanation of how the song came to be!

XOXOXOXOXO!