A Week of Lipstick: Color Roundup

As I mentioned, last week I decided to wear a new shade of lipstick every day. It was a challenge to myself, as a lipstick hoarder but not wearer, to see if I could stand wearing lipstick every day (I hate lipstick marks on my coffee cup, and Asa’s baby fingers go STRAIGHT for colorful lips), and also to see if it made me feel any differently after reading two Buzzfeed articles in which one woman went makeupless for a week, and another WORE makeup for a week.

I am a pretty consistent makekup-wearer, especially right now as this pregnancy is making me break out, but while I love to play with makeup, on a day-to-day basis I prefer to highlight my eyes because I feel like they get hidden behind glasses. And, I had this insecurity about my lips for a long time that I’m finally getting over (I felt like they were small, compared to the pillow-lips of most beauty standards), so I never put color on my lips. I didn’t want to highlight the small-ness.

But I have upwards of 25 lip colors, and I had just purchased three more. Thus, the lipstick challenge was born.

Day one was probably the most daring of the colors: a very obviously purple shade (Milani matte Glam), and it is definitely my new favorite lip color. I wore the color out grocery shopping, and felt pretty great. My first thought was really “why don’t I wear lipstick more often?”. It could be that bright colors in general just make me happy, but I really did feel a bit more confident about my whole outfit with the addition of a good purple lip.

Day two was a very subtle nude. I didn’t go anywhere on this day, except to the yard for pictures, and I have to admit: I have no idea what to wear with nude lips. I’m definitely a “match your outfit to your lipstick” kind of girl, and it was a bit hard for me to figure out what goes with nude. I have a lot of bright colors in my closet, and I didn’t want a ton of color on my body and no color in my face. So we’re still working on this whole nude lip idea.

Day three was another purplish shade, Miliani’s Sangria, and this color is just glorious. Another one of those “why do I not wear lipsticks more often?” shades. It’s such a perfect berry; the type of lipcolor I’ve been searching for for ages. And while I was wearing this, I started to wonder if perhaps my old arsenal of lipsticks just aren’t quite the perfect colors, which is why I don’t wear them.

Day four, I realized I just wore all four Milani lipsticks in a row. Oops! This one is Matte Diva, and it is the shade of pink lipstick that I have been looking for for YEARS.

See, I’m not really a pink lipstick girl. Most pinks blend in with my face too much, or are too pastel, and frustratingly I was never able to find a pink that really popped. Until this. Plus, it stayed on all day, through eating and coffee drinking and kissing the baby, and the color fades in such a way that you don’t really notice. If any of these colors convinced me to just wear lipstick all the time, it would be this one.

And on this day, someone told me I had beautiful lips, which was a first for me, and helped me get over that niggling insecurity that girls with little lips shouldn’t wear bright lipsticks. (Girls with lips should wear whatever color they want, who cares what people say. Small lips can wear dark colors. Big lips can wear bold colors. Or vice versa. There are no rules.)

Day five, I went with completely simple makeup and just bright lips (Wet’n’Wild Purty Persimmon), partly because I had a lot to do this day (Asa getting shots, changing my name finally, getting Asa’s SSC) and partly because I wanted to try the whole minimal-except-for-lips look. And I wasn’t wearing anything special, and my hair was up in an almost haphazard bun, but I felt good. Something about bright orange lipstick makes a girl feel like she can take on the world.

Day six was the first day my husband would be with me all day and I was wearing lipstick. Now, he doesn’t like lipstick — he likes the way it looks, but he does not like the fact that I love giving him kiss marks whenever I catch him off guard, and of course he also just doesn’t want leftover lipstick smear if we kiss. So on this day, I rubbed down the color to more of a stain, and discovered I like this particular red better when it’s worn-in (Rimmel London Lasting Wear by Kate in 01). We went out for lunch with Asa to a quirky mom-and-pop type restaurant called That One Place, and I realized that because I had gotten used to lipstick, I no longer worried about it rubbing off. If it rubbed off, it wasn’t hard to reapply. No big deal.

I saved my darkest and most intimidating shade for the last day — Maybelline’s Mauve-elous, which is a deliciously Gothic deep berry/purple color. I rarely wear this color, because (hello, old insecurity) I think it makes my lips look smaller. It’s actually darker with a full application than it is in this picture, but I rubbed it in a bit to make it less scary and more wearable.

I have to say, after a week of wearing lipstick I am definitely more prone to scanning my colors and wondering if there’s a good shade to go with what I wear that day, whereas previously I’d skip my lips altogether. I learned that on days when I just don’t have time to do a full face, lipstick is a great way to make it seem like I put some effort into looking good that day (even if I need a shower and have no mascara on). And, I learned that lipstick was not actually as problematic as I expected. My husband didn’t protest all of the colors. My son didn’t smear red all over my face with curiosity at my bright lips. And my coffee cups are no worse for wear. Lipstick washes off.

Mostly, though, it just reinforced something I already knew — the biggest reason any girl should wear makeup isn’t that someone told her she needs it, but that she wants to wear it. That it makes her feel good. That it’s fun. That it  brightens up the day a little. That it boosts her confidence. I’ve always thought makeup is much like style– you utilize both things to enhance what you have and hide what you don’t like, and to express your personality.

What part of makeup do you wear every day? What part of makeup intimidates you? Do you wear makeup to hide flaws, or just for fun? What colors of makeup (shadows, lipcolors, whatever) are your favorite to wear?

Happy Thursday (and happy lipstick wearing!)

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