LIP DRAMA - the critic-al' series by MARY

There’s a re-occurring trend I’ve been coming across really often, lately, and I (as your confirmed Critic) cannot help but bare it all.

When I was younger, say 4-6 years old (Oh! That’s less than 20 years ago, by the way) my mum used a lot of red and orange and burgundy and dimmed-gold and purple and fuchsia pink lipsticks. Oh! And she really rocked ‘em. She had every colour to match every outfit. Sometimes, she’d have the same colour on her nails. It was so so pretty. That was my idea of a woman. I bet if you asked me : “Who is a woman??” I’d have answered: “A woman is a pretty lady who’s got curls in her hair and brightly colored lipstick on matching nail polish”.

Growing older and sinking into my couch of womanhood, things changed. It was all about enhancing your natural skin tone and getting the perfect shade of lipstick that’s close to your natural lip colour. At some point, lip-liners became more mandatory. You know…… Lining your lips with a mild brown or burgundy pencil and then getting sheer lip-gloss in an almost natural shade, was the trend. We also drifted into using milder colours of nail polish, to enhance the natural nail colour.

Now…… The trend of BOLD colored lip colors and nail polish is back. Maybe not to stay, but I see them everywhere. Especially worn at night, with glittering outfits to match. And some of my gender-mates DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT know how to rock it like my mama did. And it’s quite sad that these are the days when we have more options, more variety, more advanced cosmetology, more experienced make-up artistes and make-up outlets. It hurts…… (my eyes mostly). If ‘we’ must “rock this look”, we can at least do it right.  

What’s with the scary look. Like I see you and I go “Ahh……!!!” Especially when they take pictures on night-outs and the camera flashes on the lip colour. It can be a very sickening sight.

Why don’t you walk into a cosmetic shop and try out the shades before you buy. You can get the advice of a make-up stylist ( hey! I tried not to use the word ‘professional’ here, so you don’t begin to run thinking about the cost). Testing is free when you’re buying, so it’s savvy too. Plus, you are sure you won’t spend your hard-earned money and have a negative result, so you get your money’s worth.

You can also know the colours that suit you best and work on similar shades. The colours suits depending on your skin tone, so you can work with that. Try also to get colours that do not mask you beauty, but give you this ‘mystic’ look. *winks

Needless to say, these bold colours are not for everybody. So don’t even try to make it work, if it doesn’t work well on you.

All my life, in my search for bold and glam make-up, I’ve found only one red lipstick that fits me and I love it, so I hunt it down no matter where. And I don’t even try to experiment others, because I end up looking like I have something missing, as soon as I put them on. I envy my friends when I see them flaunt various ‘tempting’ shades of bold lip colour *sad face*, but I won’t even dream because I know most of them won’t even fit me now. So take a cue from me ladies. I mean, you can’t have it all.

And when you’re not sure about what that lipstick is going to do to your face or your outfit, just rub it off and go on sheer gloss, pending when you can acquire the one that makes everybody go: “WOW!! Rock the sixties babaay”. A wrong shade of nail polish is easier to manage and can be excused just because it isn’t starring in everybody’s face. But be sure to take it off once you don’t feel too comfy with it.

Lastly, not every trend MUST be followed. So you can stick to whatever suits you, as long as you do it right.