I never wore red lipstick.
Over the years, I tried different shades and I always felt I looked ridiculous. I stuck with more neutral colors or no lipstick at all. Until 2014. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was finding my own with fashion, makeup and hair (finally at the age of 32) or because I was feeling fearless as we went through our first round of IVF … But I wore the red lipstick. And I loved it.
Back Story…
The company I work for was participating in the local university’s homecoming events, including a business skit competition. The script written by our fearless leader that year included a spoof appearance by Snow White. I am more of a behind-the-scenes gal, but they kept asking if I would take on the role of Snow White and I relented.
I ordered a Snow-White costume from Amazon and put off the inevitable – finding red lipstick. I finally dragged my best friend out of the office two days before the skit and we quickly went to the Walgreen’s around the corner from our office. My anxiety would not allow a fun lunch time field trip to Target. I wanted to get this over with.
I was overwhelmed by the different shades of red and was scared about how it would look on me. My bestie helped me pick a shade. I purchased it, threw it in my purse and went back to my office. I closed the door and pulled the lipstick out of my purse. I applied it – waiting for the cringe that inevitably happened when I tried red lipstick in the past. But there was no cringe – I LOVED IT. It was the perfect shade – not too bright, not too dark. Just right.
I played Snow White. It was great. And I wore my Snow White costume again for Halloween. Along with the red lipstick.
And that was it.
I started wearing red lipstick to work, when my husband and I went out to dinner, for family gatherings and basically with any outfit I could wear a red lip with and look good. I searched for other red shades that would look good on me. Again, not too bright, not too dark. And I found a few. The names are fun – Precious Ruby, Boujee, Savage, Red My Lips, Eva’s Red, Cana…
And as weird as this sounds, a red lip gives me a boost of confidence. For me, red represents fearlessness, brightness, excitement, adventure, energy, and confidence. And that, ladies, is how I found my lip color five years ago. At the ripe old age of 32.
