Guest Post: Popping My Lipstick Cherry

Nancy Rommelmann writes...

I have never worn lipstick, partly because my eyes are too big and any color on my lips makes me look, I think, like Lucille Ball. But also, because when I have it on, I don't know what to do with my mouth. Imagine a four-year-old carrying a tray of china across a room toward the expectant grown-ups, and that's how steady I feel with anything more on my lips than a swipe of gloss.

Then last week, I was digging around in my teenage daughter's make-up, and came across a Nars lipstick, in Captiva, sort of the color of dried blood. On a whim I put it on and went about my day, which included short interactions with many men. And I felt really sexy. Not, I don't think, because the lipstick made me look any better, but because having it on was like carrying some sort of superhero raygun, a secret weapon that effected people without them knowing it. The lipstick, in short, was power.

I realize I might have realized all this before the age of 46.

Then two days ago, I read the quote Jack referenced, from Isabella Blow:

If you don't wear lipstick I can't talk to you. You need to have lips. They are very important for getting men.

I am not exactly trying to get men, having as I do a husband. A husband who, when I wear lip gloss, will not kiss me on the lips, saying, "It's too goopy." Perhaps not just goopy; perhaps juvenile.

I approached him last night with the Captiva, and the announcement that I was going to start wearing lipstick every day. Why, he asked? I said, because it made me feel both serious and sexy, as though I had just learned how to have orgasms. And how did he think it looked?

"It looks good," he said, and I could see in his eyes he meant it. But would he kiss me in it? He would, and did.

I put it on again this morning, and I do like it. This, though I think it is somewhat aging. No lipstick on top:

What else I learned while taking the photos:

1. The hair tint is not working.
2. If my face gets any thinner, I can be a stand-in for Katherine Harris.
3. I might need a different shade.

Color/application suggestions appreciated.

Comments

[Jackie]

Speaking about your secret weapon reminds me of some photographer - I forget who - who always made sure that his models were wearing stockings, not pantyhose, regardless of whether the legs would be seen or not. He said the attitude of a woman in stockings is completely different from a woman in pantyhose. I believe it.

[Lenore]

I really like the color of that lipstick on you! I popped my own lipstick cherry last year and I still don't wear it much, but sometimes, some shades just look really good on a face. For your hair, I'm not sure what shade you should go with, but definitely something lighter and something that would complement the reddish undertones you have. I think many women make the mistake of going too dark. Thanks for sharing the post!

[hillaryjohnson]

How wonderful for the rest of us that you discovered this experience at 46, in full possession of your literary powers! That is the perfect description of what lipstick "means." Makeup is all about power and voodoo, in a way.

[Terri S.]

Try NARS Russian Doll, and blot well.

[tafv]

you look really nice mom

[marion]

May I suggest NARS Flair and Gypsy? Not quite so dark as Captiva. Wonderful colours.

[MJ]

MAC Dubonnet. I apply mine lightly over balm (applied thickly it would be very Issy Blow and I can't always pull that off at the office).