Rebellious Thoughts of a Woman

I’ve been thinking about lipstick lately, and not just because a lot of pigs seem to be wearing it, but because it doesn’t seem to like me. Now I know that that might sound like a strange claim, but it’s true. Lipstick is to my lips as truth is to some people’s mouths. (Okay, off the politics trail.) Seriously, why do we women buy something that so obviously doesn’t work? Is it something in our make-up (oh, look, a pun from the English teacher), our passion for optimism?; our belief in the best in everyone, in spite of all evidence?

Tube after tube I buy, and tube after tube comes off within moments of application. Yes, I have tried the all-day application type, but guess what, it comes off too. Maybe it would stay on if I didn’t talk, and eat, and drink, and, in general, use my mouth, except to smile that is. Unfortunately, that’s just not going to happen.

I like lipstick, I really do. I even like putting it on. Gliding that waxy silky layer of color across my lips, sometimes it’s warm and sometimes it’s cool, depending on where it has been. The very anticipation of that gentle touch makes me think of a kiss coming my way. The act is very sensual, and I don’t think that is a bad thing to do for the self: acknowledging that I am a sensual being and not only in relation to a boy.

My mother, whose make-up habits would cause the world’s cosmetics companies to seriously try to sell lipstick to pigs since she wears so little make up is of the “can’t leave the house without lipstick” generation, has influenced my determination to always color my lips when going out in public. Which is why this dilemma is so basic. If so many women view lipstick as a wardrobe essential, then why can’t the cosmetics companies make quality lipstick that stays on for the course of a normal day? Even in the course of a normal hour?

This is surely not the same as asking for a mammogram machine that doesn’t hurt; we’re talking about lip color that stays on. The all day stuff that I have been buying lately has an awful habit of selectively sticking. So I have a ring around my lips where there is still some color, but on the inner-most part—the part that I think is supposed to have the most color—absolutely fades. I’m thinking that it’s not a good look. Red raccoon rings around my mouth. Ugh.

Honestly. What is with these companies? I guess they have been getting the message that the color is not staying with regular lipstick, hence all the “all day” stuff that abounds now, but you’d think that they could come up with something that works for real women and not just models in commercials. Is it hard to make color stick? If crayon can stay on a wall, couldn’t wax stay on a lip? Maybe Crayola needs to come out with a line of lipstick. I’d buy a box of Crayola lipstick in these colors: Cranberry, Maroon, Mauvelous, RazzMatazz, and Violet-Red.

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