I Wear Red Lipstick When It Rains

It really brightens up the day. And my boring ponytail.

It’s raining. I hate rain. It screws with my hair, slows down my commute, and I don’t get the normal amount of sunshine through the window by my desk. So what do I do to combat that? I wear bright lipstick. It just makes me feel more cheerful. And I usually get a few compliments when I wear it, so I think it brightens other people’s days, too. At least I hope it does!

Today is a lovely shade of red called “flame” by CoverGirl. It’s moisturizing anti-aging lipstick, so it doesn’t cake up and dry out your lips. That dry feeling was why I never used lipstick in the past. But thanks to community theater (and admittedly, repeated viewing of the opening titles of Buffy, where in one scene she’s sporting a really awesome red that I decided I just had to try) I have become much more adventurous.

I discovered awhile back (through heavy experimentation) that there needs to be some orange in my lipstick, otherwise it looks too fuschia-y on my skin tone. Sadly, it took me 4 failed tubes of what I thought were very pretty reds to figure this out. Luckily I have a porcelain friend who can wear any shade, ever, including purple, so she benefited from my failures. If you’re going to venture into bright color territory, I recommend spending some quality time with a nice lady behind a Sephora counter so you can figure out what works for you without committing to ill-suited colors you pick up on a whim at a drug store. Like me.

Another fave that I picked up in the past few days is the Revlon Lip Butter. I’m easily swayed by beauty advertising, so when I saw it flipping through Vogue last weekend I decided to give it a shot. Lucky for me, it’s really quite amazing. It’s not a very heavy color, though I went for a peach shade in this one (tutti frutti) so that’s generally more sheer anyway. But it’s so moisturizing you can wear it like chap stick. It is definitely going to be a staple in my rotation, and I might go back and see if there’s another shade that strikes my fancy.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I did go out in the hallway to take this pic because I had repeated failures with awkward faces. I hope you all appreciate it.