To All The Lipsticks I've Loved Before

For so much of my adult life I barely wore eye makeup.  My main focus was always on my skin.  I would get monthly facials and take excellent care of my skin every day.  Sunscreen is a must!  Part vampire, I do not leave the house without SPF on my face.

I love Shiseido skin care and am addicted to their retinol masks.  But I mix in plenty of  Lancôme and can't really live without their Precious Oil, pricey as it is.  I should really do skincare posts because I've tried it all.   Estée Lauder Perfectionist!  I could write for days about that alone.  They used to make eye patches that would turn you into a new woman, especially after a late night out with cocktails!  But I think they discontinued those for some reason.  Well, they discontinue everything eventually, don't they?  

Anyway, I've always been about glowy skin, a little concealer, and...lipstick.  I've always lived by the idea that you could never look so bad that a pair of big black sunglasses, and red lipstick wouldn't fix it. 

MAC's Ruby Woo, the now classic matte blue-red stunner.  Black sunglasses.  You're set.

MAC's Brit Wit creme blush, which for years I used as lipstick.  A gorgeous blush of pink color across lips, with a matching touch of nude pinkish glow across the cheeks. They discontinued it of course, and nothing ever came close.  It was the perfect work lipstick.  Unlike Ruby Woo it never screamed, but gently wowed.  You could barely know it was there while knowing full well it was there. 

For a while, during the 2010's, Shiseido had the perfect nude.  I wore it everyday.  But by 2015 they had discontinued it.  Now, much like lovers I took in my 20's, I don't even remember the name.  But I remember the face.

They tried convincing me that their Bamboo 111 was their best nude, but I tried it on and handed it back.  It couldn't hold a candle.  Shiseido took away the best nude I've ever had, and they not only don't even know its name, when asked, they pretend it never existed.  I hold that against them. 

For a couple of years I remembered the number of the shade, but now that's gone like my dreams of a Hillary Clinton presidency.   Oh, and not coincidentally, my need for lipstick. 

Because Trump's America is the Covid shithole of the world, who knows when I'll be wearing lipstick again.  There's no point when you have to wear a mask to leave your home.  

I've learned how to play up my eyes, which are nice eyes, for what they are.  I use Lancôme's clever artliner in black to thinly but dramatically line the top lid.  And a pencil to blend on the bottom.  A  little smear of Tom Ford's eye shadow creme and vavoom.  Big eyes.  And it's nice.  I suppose. I mean, it's fine.  It's fine.

But sometimes, when I'm home and not going anywhere, I take out my favorite lip color since 2019, Chanel's Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle.  And I put it on slowly, in my makeup mirror, eyes naked except for concealer.  I purse my lips to blend it. I shake my hair out a bit...oh, there I am.   Hello you.