a perfect red

[anotheranon]

My latest aesthetic obsessions include 1940s pantsuits and Moulin Rouge (I may make a saloon girl outfit yet, if only as an excuse to make my first Victorian corset). As such, I've renewed my pursuit of a perfect, plain red lipstick.

As a teenage goth, finding a drugstore red that wouldn't turn pink or orange was well nigh impossible. Twenty years and discovery of high-end cosmetics later, the best I'd been able to do was MAC's Russian Red, which while still a bit too bright for my tastes at least didn't fade with the first cup of coffee.

Nah, what I've been seeking for years is a perfect Rosie the Riveter, pinup-girl, Paloma Picasso, Addicted to Love-style red. A clear, plain red, neither pink nor burgundy, that stays put.

So I went to Sephora.com and ordered several, with the expectation that most would get returned and the hope that at least one would pan out. I got lucky and found two:

DuWop's Private Red didn't pull the advertised "mood lipstick" thing on me, but is a smooth, true red with a tiny bit of shine. It doesn't slip easily and even after I wiped it off it left a reddish (not pink) stain. This might be good for everyday or touchups.

For industrial strength, evening wear ain't-gonna-move red I'm hanging onto Nars Fire Down Below. It is very dense, very dry, and aggressively plain and resolutely immobile - indeed, getting it right the first time is crucial so if/when I wear it I'll have to use a lip pencil or brush to make sure I get it right! Too dry for everyday but if I need something that will stay, this would be it.

For those of you who wear it: what's your favorite red lipstick?

Comments

[semmie17.livejournal.com]

Revlon Red, or Revlon's Love That Red, depending on my hair color.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I take it you use different colors for blonde, redhead, brunette?

[semmie17.livejournal.com]

I do! I can use pinks and peaches for the blonde and/or highlights, and with auburn or browns I can use the reds.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

You're one of the few people I know who've done brunette, red, AND blonde. Which is your favorite?

[semmie17.livejournal.com]

Hrmm... it depends on the time of year.

First of all, I have been gifted with really ordinary hair. It's not thick, nor thin, nor straight, nor curly. It doesn't tend to have split ends, but then I take care of it with good shampoo and conditioner. It does like to get shampooed every 24 hours, or else my scalp turns into a oil spill.

What it does do -- very well I might add -- is GROW. Fast. Unbelievably, embarrassingly FAST.

So, if I tell my hairdresser on May 1st to go Mega-Summer Blonde with full trailer-trash highlights, I have to get it done again by the middle of June, or else by September 1st I have 3" of roots showing. My hair probably grows anywhere between 3/4" to 1" a month, depending on the time of year.

Add to that, I'm about 75% gray, and gray hair can be either fragile as hell, or damn near indestructible. I seem to be getting the indestructible sort. That means the color I choose needs to have a bleaching first to open up the hair shaft, and then color on top, so my color ends up being purer than being put over normally colored hair because its not going over pigment.

So... I can go blonde in the summer for 3 months, then have it cut and have red lowlights put into it for the fall. Within 6 weeks those have to be touched up, and I can go auburn all over for the winter or do some sort of tortoise-shell low and highlights with gold and auburn. By the time March comes around, I can just have a base touchup of, say, a dark honey, and then six weeks later it is May, and I can go blonde again.

So... it depends on the time of the year -- if I'm too blonde in the winter, it just looks trashy so I turn it down to a light golden auburn. In the spring and fall I can play with other colors like burgundy or coppers. But in the summer, it's fun to be blonde, blonde, blonde! I don't have to worry about the hair bleaching out in the sun, because I've already blasted it.

(Before this sounds too glamorous, girls -- beware! I pay around $600 a year in maintenance because I don't want to have gray hair.)

[dreamtigress.livejournal.com]

I don't often wear bright red, but the Covergirl Outlast All Day collection (http://www.covergirl.com/beauty-products/lip-makeup/lip-color/outlast-all-day-lipcolor) is what I call blow-job proof lipstick. It's also greasy pizza proof, a day at Faire proof, and still on my lips after a night of sleep if I apply it late in the evening.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Greasy pizza proof? Sounds like Cover Girl has improved since I used it last!

[glitter-femme.livejournal.com]

I still haven't figured out red lipstick. I asked the guy at MAC to teach me to wear it, but I must have been unclear about under what circumstances I meant to wear it -- it was all over GF Esq's face within ten minutes. I'm just lucky I got it all off that way before I went near my other (former) partner's collar, or they might never have found my body.

There are definitely some suggestions here I'll try! Blowjob-proof sounds just about my speed.