It is with a heavy heart that I have just thrown out a lipstick that I’ve had since I was 17. Yes, that’s right – I had it for THIRTY-THREE years!
My friend gave it to me when we were on the bus coming back from school, because she decided that the colour wasn’t for her. It was a Fashion Fair lipstick called “Control” and the dark shade of deep purple was perfect for me. It was my first ever real lipstick and for a while I wore it all the time until I got up the confidence to experiment with reds and pinks and add other colours to my collection. I’m convinced it was that lipstick though, that made boys start to notice me and yes, even fancy me a bit ! As the years went by, I only wore it when I was wearing something that was that same colour and then in the last decade, it became something I only used on stage….usually when playing the wicked witch or some other evil, wanton woman! But I found it yesterday and realised that although I have tried in vain to keep it going, it really is defunct now as it has pretty much lost all the oils that made it so luscious in the first place.
It was really quite hard throwing it away and as I looked at it sitting there all forlorn in the bin, I started to think about just what a fabulous thing lipstick is!
My daughter has only just started wearing it. She’s a beautiful girl (obviously, as she takes after me!!) and I love watching her putting on her make up as she is far more expert at all that than me. But it has always been her eyes that she spends time transforming. Her lips have always just had a bit of lip balm or even just a touch of Vaseline. Rarely any colour.
But then just recently, she was off to some gala dinner and so we went shopping to find the perfect red lipstick to set off her little black dress. We found a few colours for her but she’s not in love with any of them as she maintains you either make up your eyes or your mouth, but never both! And for her, she prefers to focus on her eyes which is a shame as when she was born and placed into my arms, the first thing I noticed about her was her pretty little cupid bow mouth, which she still has.
I despair at her lack of interest in lipstick. It’s so simple. Much quicker and easier than doing a graphic eyeliner or a smoky eye. And yet it’s just as effective.
I love it! It’s an instant beauty statement. Where would glamour be without it? Lipstick makes me feel like a woman – foxy and sometimes, with the right shade, downright sexy! I think it makes every woman look classy and definitely more glamorous with it than without it.
Being a sucker for anything called or involving cherries, I once spent a lot of money on a Tom Ford lipstick called Cherry Lush. It’s a full on RED lipstick and I adore it. I like to lay it on thick to tell the world I mean business!
I love that my lips are plump enough to leave a fairly impressive impression on a tissue, the side of a glass and even a cheek! My mother says that’s cheap but quite frankly, lipstick gives me the confidence not to care!
My late Dad used to hate seeing too much lipstick, or any makeup, on a woman – so I used to put it on very lightly and when he asked if I was wearing any I would say no it was just chapstick bringing out the natural colour……because of course, my natural colour was Black Tulip! Ah, but bless him, he believed me and I realised then that men often say they prefer women who don’t wear make up but they actually know very little about it. So I perfected the art (I think, I hope) of not looking as if I’m wearing any. Even now, my poor innocent husband thinks I don’t wear much when we go out, although he can see with his own eyes that my dressing table is practically collapsing under the weight of all my various cosmetics.
Now that I’m at home a lot more though, I really don’t wear any. However, I always put on a touch of coloured lip-gloss when I head off to the shops or to meet a friend as that very act seems to magically inject the inner confidence I need to face the world. And I always carry a lipstick in my bag or in the car, just in case.
You see, for me a well-coloured lip is like an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence…..and regular readers of this blog, will know just how much I like them !
Life After The Beeb 
Oh that is sad–to say goodbye to a faithful friend, who has seen you through many a to-do. Also sad, I’ve yet to find a lipstick that I adore. But I’m nothing if not determined . . . so I’ll keep you posted! 🙂
Lipstick is such a frightening thing to me. I never wear it and prefer gloss – mostly because you can mess up gloss and no one can tell. You’re on to something though, I might have to try it out… maybe
I wish I could pull of lipstick. I own a couple but I always feel weird wearing it. I cannot help myself. I would really love to wear bright lipstick once in a while because I love seeing it on other women. Is there a trick? 🙂 I always feel it looks great on everybody else but not me. My mom always wore lipstick and I still own one of her lipsticks (she died 12 years ago). I am not sure if I will ever throw it away….I guess not.
All I can say, and all I need to say is that I wish it was your lipstick on my collar. I’d never launder it.