I have had a long lasting relationship with lipstick.   It started when I was a young girl watching my Mom, who was (and still is) a very beautiful woman, applying her makeup.   She would always put her lipstick on last and it was as if putting that lipstick on was sealing a jolt of confidence into her persona.   However, she would always pause a moment for a second look and complain about her lips because they were so thin by African-American standards.   As I looked up at her in the mirror she would look down at me and tell me she was glad I did not have her lips but beautiful full lips like my father.   This made me feel just as beautiful as she looked and I couldn’t wait to grow up to wear lipstick.

When I started wearing it, I bought all of the vibrant bold colors and I wore them proudly.  Every morning when I lavished my lips with those colors, I must admit I felt more confident.   Perhaps I exuded that confidence, too, because one day a co-worker tried to burst my bubble.    It was summer and I was a young, twenty-something, popping female.   This particular day I wore a bright orange lipstick which I knew looked good with my brown skin.    My desk was in a large area with other workers. As I arrived to the office and sat down at my desk, my co-worker looked me over and said “You know men don’t like it when a woman wears a ‘loud’ colored lipstick.”

I gaped at her.   I felt my confidence slipping away……departing from me.  I decided to hold on to it.   So, I looked her in her eyes and said, “I don’t wear my lipstick for men.  I wear my lipstick for me.”   KAZAAM!   I snatched back my confidence with the quickness of a Muhammad Ali punch!   However, even though I said that as a comeback, I later realized it was true.   I continued to wear my vibrant, bold colors but I did start paying cursory attention to how my dates/boyfriends reacted to it.

Well, one boyfriend sung praises about my “bee stung” lips.  He was so obsessed with them that he became upset when an artist drew a sketch of me and captured the likeness of them.   He said he did not like the fact that the artist (a male) saw my lips in the same manner he did.  I found that amusing.    Another experience was on a first date when I wore a lilac lipstick with my attire.   The guy couldn’t take his eyes from my lips while I talked to him.  It was to the point that I became nervous.   So, I think my co-worker was wrong in her assessment and the real issue was she did not have the confidence to wear those colors on her lips.

To me, lip color is the first visual cue of your level of confidence.  You should definitely choose and wear the colors that make you feel good because when you feel good you will look good.    There are so many brands of beautiful lip color and I have over 100 tubes of lipstick but if I had to choose a color that personifies confidence it would be Borghese Scarlatto.   When you wear that red one you are saying to the world – I am Woman!

So, girlfriends, wear the bold, vibrant colors on your lips.   Be the 3 B’s in your lip color – Bold, Bright and Bodacious!   Kiss your man all over his face with those “loud” colored lips because if he is in to you he won’t mind.

QUESTION(S)

How do you feel about wearing bold and vibrant lip color?

What color is your favorite lipstick?