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I know it's past Valentine's and red is oh-so-passe already, but it's been cold and rainy here and something about the weather just makes me want to go all siren-like and paint my lips red. The thing is, I'm so not a red lipstick kind of gal. If you took a peek into my already small collection of lipsticks and glosses, you'd find an array of nudes and pinks, all with a underlay of mousy, blend-into-the-wall sort of brownishness. And more often than not I can be found sporting a slick layer of chicken poop (my lip moisturizer obsession de jour).
So on Valentine's, when I started to feel this need to go red, I dug through my makeup stash only to find some Benefit lip stain, long neglected and probably past its prime, but still willing to do the job. (And now I realize, searching for the link, it is so old that it is now defunct in favor of its more popular sister the lip and cheek stain, Benetint. Here is what I have though. This might be its current incarnation.) So, anyway. Even though it had a nice rosy smell and was definitely more red than anything else I owned, it wasn't red red. Like stop you in the street red, if you know what I mean.
And I've been through all this before. I go through this old Hollywood glamour longing every once in awhile and I can never, ever find that perfect shade of knockout red. There's always something wrong with the red. It's too sheer or too strong or too pinkish or too whatever.
So I wonder if it's the lipsticks or if it is just...me. I know all the rules - line inside your lips before applying lipstick, don't do red lipstick and super dramatic eyes, pick the right shade of red (plum base if your face is pinkish, brown base if your face has yellow tones) - but the reds just never look quite right. So I wonder if with my super pale skin and general aversion to dramatic makeup (see plethora of nude lipsticks and boring brown eyeshadow in my bag), I just can't embrace my inner siren.
Maybe I want to wear red, but I don't really want to wear red.
Sigh.
I haven't given up hope yet though. I have to believe there is more than virginal pinks and nudes in my lip's future. If only because it's grey and cold outside and a burst of bold, sexy color would be such a pick-me-up right now. In theory I'd like to buy something inexpensive enough that I won't have to cry over if it doesn't work out, but I'm also not totally opposed to spending some money for The Perfect Red. I'd love something that could make for a new everyday look (because even the fabulousness of chicken poop gets old sometimes), but I'm not really going to kid myself into thinking I'll be able to pull off that kind of color day in and day out. But even if it's just for chilly, romantic sort of days...
I'm eyeing Clinique's red lipsticks, if only because I once had a long love affair with their Almost Lipstick in Black Honey, but I have no idea how to choose. Different Lipstick in Angel Red? High Impact in Sassy Spice? Or Long Last Soft Shine in Red Red Red? M.A.C. also has its fans. Or what about that legendary Chanel red? Or would a stick of Wet N Wild do the job? Help!
image courtesy of Sephora.
