When we went hair product shopping, we walked past the lipsticks. I said I’d never managed to find a red lipstick I could keep a straight face in, which my friend took as a sign: it’s time to try.
It’s 2016, you know? The times, they are a-changin’.
Which is perhaps the wrong phrase to use… When I think of red lipstick, I think of throwbacks, of old school glamour.
This is its appeal – that 50s pin-up look.
Even more recently: when I was in grade 1, my favourite colour was pink. I had a pink bedroom with a canopy bed, I wore pink clothes. This was also the 80s. My mom wore a rhinestone sweater in public, and I thought it was beau-ooo-tiful. And one of the other moms in my class, she wore rose lipstick – thick, 80s, rose lipstick. And I thought she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
I’ve liked those lipsticks before, on other people. It was time. So we found one, and I took home a sample. While M was out, I played with it – like dress-up, except with make-up. Me! Crunchy, married, librarian me.
And then I heard his key in the door and froze. Ack! I covered my mouth – I’d been caught, red-lipped!
Get this: we are married. We have joint bank accounts, are desperately hoping for a mortgage, have been through medical emergencies together, know each other’s families. That kind of married. The “we’ve already revealed our darkest fears to each other” kind of married. The “not only have we uncovered our secrets, we now tease each other about them” kind of married.
Yet, I was scared to pull my hand away from my face!
I thought I was going to get a reaction like this:
M: “What are you doing? Did something happen to your face?”
Me (through my hand): “No, I just tried a new lipstick. I don’t know how I feel about it.” (Removed hand)
Instead, I got a reaction like this:
Totally, 100% worth it! For me, now, the appeal is not just the 50s glam throwback, it’ll also remind me of the time I surprised my husband. Score!
