GOOD LOOKS
LIPSTICK GRACES A Short Course In Labial Art Appreciation
by Amy Linden More than any other form of femme apparel or apparatus, lipstick separates the girls from the sluts. The first time mom allowed you to don a fetching shade of lipstick deeper than the color of your naked lips was a major mile-stone. It's lipstick that you shoplift. It's lipstick that's left on cocktail napkins, cigarette butts, zippers. Lipsticks have cool names, like Naughty Iridescent Violette. Do they even give blushes names? Singers sing about lip-stick traces, poets go on about ruby lips. The ultimate height of tack/cool (depnding on your p.o.v.) is whipping out that tube at the dinner table and reapplying a fresh coat of allure. One clue that lipstick is slightly dangerous and therefore beyond hip is that men hate it. Granted, they claim to hate make-up in general, but they hate lipstick the most. It's more than a desire for untainted womanhood that fuels men's hatred; the first telltale sign of an extra-curricular love thang is the old lipstick on the collar.
Notice we're talking about lip-stick, not lip gloss, not lip shine. All that is merely Chapstick with some food dye tossed in. The credo must be: No stain, no gain. Natural lipsticks, the ones that barely blush your perky lips, are for the birds. Natural make-up is an oxymoron. If you wanted to look natural, why put the stuff on? The idea is to look painted, enhanced, stained. Lipstick defines and delineates just what type of dame you are. Lipstick is the art of artifice.
Each generation has shades that are its own. Dig some tube titles from the swingin' Sixties: Great Granny Red... Carnaby Coral...Pink Paisley. They just scream out happening, don't they? The same decade offered Yardley Slickers -- all shiny and glossy and, despite a vaguely naturalistic look, there was never any doubt you had something chemical on your mouth. The best thing about Slickers was their spokesmodel, Jean Shrimpton, whose sister Chrissie went out with Jagger, thereby ensuring her place in the Cool Looks hall of fame. The white lips to match the white boots spelled out the essence of groovy fashion.
The Seventies saw the rise of the women's movement which, unfortunately, brought about anti-lipstick hysteria. While the reaction may have been justified at the time, in hindsight it was misguided, since all it did was drive a wedge between those who did and did not paint their faces. In retrospect, we all know that a little lip color can't do as much damage as the Supreme Court. The end result of all this anti-make-up fervor was that the natural look became more prevalent and that lines like Clinique, with their antiseptic, good-for-you vibe, took over. Rule of thumb: if it's dermatologist-recommended, it ain't cool.
Punk rock saw a rise in the application of lipstick, the more garish the better. Again, history has shown us that walking around with OD blue lips may not be all that agreeable, but it made its point back then. Since punk was an excuse to look as ugly as possible, green lips seemed to be quite appropriate.
As one matures, and finally learns how to correctly apply the stuff, lipstick becomes a lot less trendy and more classic. There will never be a time when a good pair of red lips is not a welcome sight. Be you tramp or glamourpuss, or just unable to accessorize, a true sign of style is the tried and true lips of eternity. The lips that'll endure are the ones that (lord knows) our mothers probably wore (if their mothers let them wear lipstick, or if they were sort of loose). To this end, here's a highly subjective list of shades that are timeless and quintessentially cool...
TRUE CLASSICS FOR EVER AND EVER Revlon's Love That Red Cherries in the Snow Fire and Ice (All intro'd by Revlon in the early Fifties, and still hot. Also worth noting: the late lamented Orange Flip and Uptown Tangerine; the discontinuation of a fave shade is a pain no man will ever dig.)
Coty 24. These available-in-drugstores (i.e., cheap) matte shades stay on, as the tag, suggests, for 24 hours.
Artamatic Black Orchid. The ghoul-girl choice. At last look it was a buck a tube (in its heyday, 69 cents).
Bruccis Paula's Pink. Cheap brands have the best names, and Paula's is so pink it'll make you puke.
Chanel Star Red. An endurable classic. French. Very expensive, but lasts and has a hip case (as do all pricey brands).
MUSTS TO AVOID Estee Lauder (Republican) Natural Wonder (natural, ha!) Most Clinique, or any product tested on animals (you can be cool and PC at the same time).