Makeup – how to transform your face into a masterpiece
Part 4 – Read my lips ;o)
What’s the way to express ourselves? Talking, whispering, singing, pouting, shouting, kissing, reciting poetry, smiling, whistling, sipping champagne … Whatever it seems to be, attention gets drawn to our lips, so what better way is there to enhance their attraction then to apply lipstick?! ;o)
As the history of lipstick will teach us, it is traceable all the way back to the Indus Valley Civilization and Cleopatra is said to have had her lipstick made from crushed carmine beetles (which gave a deep red pigment) and ants for a base. Guess what: I can read your thoughts! ‘YUUUUUUUK!!!! And bless God for modern cosmetic industry’, am I correct? And I’m right with you on that one!!! :o) You’ll be pleased to know that now lipstick in this day and age is made of pigments, oils, waxes, and emollients...
A more modern version of lipstick started to gain popularity in England, when Queen Elizabeth Imade piercing red lips and bright white faces a fashion statement. By that time, lipstick was made from a blend of beeswaxand red stains from plants - which sounds already much better to me than a mix of different species of insects!!!
During Victorian times makeup somewhat fell from grace again, but made its colorful & celebrated comeback by at least 1912 when fashionable American women had come to consider lipstick acceptable!
During the Second World War, lipstick finally gained general popularity as a result of its use in the movie industry, and it became commonplace for women to apply makeup, or "put their face on.". And if you ask me, this trend’s here to stay in one way or the other ;o)
So how do we go about putting our lips in the spot light? There are multiple options of making your lips a statement (without even having to open them yet) – there are glosses, pencils & the much mentioned lipstick to let them shine :o)
Glosses are the easiest to apply (the light shades don’t even need the assistance of a mirror), make lips look fuller but don’t last very long. One trick to make them stick around longer is to apply lip-pencil first – either just outline our lips or fill all of them with color. Then apply gloss, blot them and re-apply gloss again.
Pencils offer great service in evening out your lips or if they are too thin, draw the line slightly outside your natural lip-line :o) Since I don’t want to buy a separate pencil for every lipstick I own I get one in a neutral color (ever so slightly darker then my natural lip color) so this very one can be used for all ;o) My favorite is ‘Spice’ by MAC.
Lipstick, especially the tricky dark/bright red one, is easiest applied if the mouth is first outlined by pencil and then filled in using a brush...
When you chose your lip decoration, keep in mind:
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You should only highlight one major feature in you face – so for example strong, glittery eyes go with matte nude lips and simple eye makeup can take dark/shiny/attention-drawing lips ;o)
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To make sure you don’t have lipstick on your teeth, wrap a tissue around your finder and bite on it ;o)
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Cocktails: To keep your lipstick where it belongs rather than on your champagne glass, leek the rim where your lips are going to touch the glass ;o)
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To make lips look fuller when you want to wear dark lipstick apply a lighter shade just in the center of your mouth followed by a dash of gloss.
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For kissing & dinner: Even though red lips look very, very sexy, they’re not so very, very kissable & won’t last through a 3 course meal! Here my tip is to go with a fairly nude shade – this gives your lips the moister that makes them look lush, you can kiss and it still looks decent when half eaten off – my personal favorites are ‘Plumfull’ by MAC and ‘Romance’ Number 28 Rouge Allure by Chanel.
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The best thing for dry lips is pure vitamin E oil or BEPANTHEN cream.
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The most durable lipsticks I ever came across of are the ones from the Rouge Allure line by Chanel, they last but don’t dry out your lips as most of the other ‘kissable’ ones do :o)
I know that every woman has her own tips & tricks up her sleeve so I would like to invite you to share yours with all of us using the comment field ;o) Thanks!!!
