Lucy Lips

After I ordered this lipstick the other day, I suddenly had a giggle fit remembering a friend at the BBC. Her name was Lucy. She was young -- in her late 20s, I suppose -- had red hair, painted-in red eyebrows, and extremely white skin. She wore deadly red lipstick. She was stunning, gorgeous, and (probably too-) HEAVILY MADE UP, because she said she felt she needed to be because her features would fade into the background if not. But she told the story of her former workplace, and her learning after several years that the people there called her LUCY LIPS behind her back. I still remember her hilarious pronunciation of "Lucy Lips." It gave me a fit of giggles then -- and the memory of it still does today. 

Lucy Lips Sink Ships, I suppose. 

I have had an impossible time of finding the right shade of red lipstick after the highly successful Boots No. 7 shade, Jamaica Rum, I bought in London was discontinued (and I am no longer in London anyway, to get some). It was a brown red, and it still needed to be toned down with a light beige coat over it in order for me to feel comfortable leaving the house with it. And then it was jussssssst perfect. 

And here's the funny thing:  When we were discussing Lucy Lips together, it was because of her wanting to know my shade of lipstick. I told her, and it turns out that was HER shade, but they looked COMPLETELY different on each of us. (Then again, there was the complicating factor of me putting the toning-down beige coat over the top of mine.) It was the talk of the day that day at the Beeb -- "Norma and Lucy wear the same shade of lipstick, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!" (It's not like we had any actual work to do or anything.)

People used to compliment me, saying, "You look so healthy!" whenever I wore that lipstick. It was absolutely the lipstick, because they would always say that when I wore that shade, but not say a thing when I wore other shades. So anyway, I fell for this Elizabeth Arden one the other day when I saw the ad online because it said "sheer."  I hope I didn't just throw away 20 bucks. Details when I give it a test drive. I have fears that I will look like Carol Burnett's impression of Norma Desmond. 

Do you have a red lipstick story?

Comments

[Gaye]

Did you know that Target sells Boots makeup?

Gaye

[inglesidebelle]

Isn't it fun that the same lipstick can look different on different people?

I don't have a red lipstick story, but I do remember that when I was young I thought my mother had not yet "put on her face" if she wasn't wearing lipstick.

[impotenta]

Boots makeup? omg... whats that? i never heard of such in Romania.

thanks.

[Carole]

I don't have a red lipstick story but I do have a favorite shade of lipstick that Clinique discontinued several years back. I've been looking for a replacement ever since but haven't had real luck. I ordered 2 shades from Sephora yesterday and I'm hoping one of those might fill the gap for me.

[gayle]

No red or any other shade of lipstick story - I've never worn it... Greasepaint, yes; makeup, no.

[Nora]

My mother. She always wore fire engine red lipstick. Never left the house without it. Would not consider another shade.

[Joannah]

When you test drive the lipstick, you might want to skip the turban ;)

[Manise]

Heh. I hate it when they discontinue a perfectly wonderful shade/ color. There was this Clinique raspberry-ish one that I loved. I now wear Tenderheart as the others look like a$$ on me. Dare you to wear the turban. :-D

[Mary Lou]

My mother wore the same red lipstick her entire adult life. Revlon Fire and Ice. Started out in the 40's and they kept making it. When we were kids we would buy her a tube for mother's day.

[Melissa in El Cajon]

Hey, Norma. This won't help with your favourite colour (as Lucy would spell those words) since it has been discontinued, but if you like other Boots products, check out your Target store. If it is like ours out here in SoCal, they carry Boots products.

[Kate]

I spent an entire Saturday in college trying to find my Nana's lipstick. It was CoverGirl "pink" ... not an easy color to find b/c it was first blended in the 50s. 17 CVS, Rite Aids, etc later... 1 tube. Being a smart cookie, I called CoverGirl and found a very nice product manager who shipped 10 tubes of "pink" to us, along with 10 packs of eye shadow in "blue". No fancy names. Pink. Blue.

Nana died a few years later and I keep one tube of "pink" and one blue eyeshadow in my purse to keep her with me... A strong single mother, she always said "Brush your hair, put on a little lipstick... now the day can't be that bad"

[Phyllis]

I generally lurk (and laugh my butt off at some of your posts), and have to chime in with other posters about Tar-jay: they do carry boots. My Tar-jay is usually out of most of the boots stuff, so I end up doing mail-order for it. They have a us website and I think Drugstore.com also carries some of their products.

Good luck!
Phyllis
:)

[Jennifer]

Back when I wore makeup (none for me now, I'm preggo!) I was known for my red lipstick, too. I loved Avon's Viva Las Vegas...it was red red RED with subtle gold sparkles mixed in with it! People always used to tell me I was brave to wear red with such pale skin. Not sure what that meant!

I think I got hooked on red lipstick after seeing Madonna in Who's That Girl when I was a kid. She was my idol lol!

[AnnaMarie]

When I went to beauty school one of the girls decided to give me a "goth" makeover one day. I already had cherry red hair so she straightened my very wavy hair and did my face in pale foundation with dark eyeliner and red, red, red lips. I was wearing a red shirt and had on a black winter coat that had a black fake fur edge. That was what my passport photo got taken in for my state exam i.d.

Needless to say when I showed up in my usual wavy hair and regular makeup at the exam they did a pretty big double-take from my file to my face.

[marianne]

I've always been envious of the women who can and will wear the Red on their lips. It just doesn't work for me. damnit.
what's with all the bold?

[Bex]

I'm not much of a lipstick person, but I took some sweater photos yesterday for ravelry, and thought that I looked pale and, well, un-healthy. Maybe I should start shopping for my shade?

[Mary Fran]

Not red, but I fell in love with the Monica Lewinsky color from her Barbara Walters interview way back THEN. Club Monaco Glaze - which they stopped making. So I horded a bunch off eBay. So yes, I understand trying to find the right shade and color.

[margaret]

I love wearing red lipstick - and am always looking for that perfect shade - I may have found it: T. leClerc No.17 - "Glamour" - I've found that since I stopped coloring my hair, the bluer reds work a bit better on me - before that, they had to have a more yellow bent - actually, Brulant is my go-to color all year long - http://www.t-leclerc.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=3&products_id=15
you don't have to go overseas to find it - ask your daughter to pick up a tube for you in the Big Apple ;o)

[Kitten]

Copra, by Revlon. They no longer make the color or the formula. Loved it. Wore it until I couldn't dig anymore out of the base with a brush. Since then I haven't found anything close.
My other favorite is Maybelline's long wearing, fetchingly named 744. Also discontinued. Bastards.

[Julie]

Can't wait to hear how you like your new lipstick ~ I'm always on the lookout. Why are all the best ones discontinued?
My red lipstick story is about a lovely lady who lived in a nursing home I worked at. She was always impeccably made up but as she became more and more forgetful things got a bit odd. She would arrive at the breakfast table with her mascara on, rouge on her cheeks, lipstick in place and her eyebrows perfectly outlined...in red lipstick. Somehow it worked.

[kmkat]

No matter what color of lipstick I put -- I tend to favor pinkish-brown, not too dark -- it always turns too dark on me. So I gave up on lipstick about 30 years ago.

[Robby]

Would it be unkind to point out that you are attempting to fall for a 'limited edition' lipstick? Hoarding will only take you so far, should the color turn out to be a fav. We've all been there. Don't get me started on them discontinuing THE foundation garment that lifts what it's supposed to. I refer to all of these as clearly, 'man-made decisions'.

[Cookie]

Bare Escentials used to make a Vitamin E stick that came in the best red. It was clear-ish but still added enough color to be fabulous. They don't make it anymore, of course.

My lipstick story happened yesterday. Two women chatting. One asked the other if she had tried the makeup the other had given her yet. She said no because she needed an "occasion" to wear the lipstick as she doesn't wear it to work. The other one said that people don't seem to wear lipstick as much anymore and her friend agreed. Then they both looked at me, sitting there with my sock in-progress and salt/pepper hair, wearing my lip tint stuff from Revlon. I was good and didn't laugh until much later.

xo

[twitter.com/mrshazy]

I would love to wear red lipstick. I don't wear any make up at all. I don't leave the house often anyway due to illness, but I still remember when I was in my teens and experimenting with make up and my dad making comments that it looked like I had 'slapped it on with a paintbrush'. Put me off for life... Or maybe not. I'll be going to Boots at the weekend (I'm in the UK) - maybe it's time for some red lipstick!

[Joan in Reno]

My favorite shade of sheer red lipstick is actually an Avon Christmas lip gloss from a few years ago that I am hoarding for special occasions. It is nice and sheer and not too bright but definitely red. I can't find a good red either. If that one works for you I might try it.

[Laura]

I got a darkish Prescriptives lipstick from the "red orange" line years ago that I loved and got a lot of compliments on. I wore it or other dark lipsticks for special occasions for a number of years...well, until I saw myself in a group photo. Speaking of Carol Burnett: I looked like Carol Burnett's imitation of Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce. Since then, I have gone considerably lighter and subtler with any sort of lip enhancement.

[Pamela]

Well my favorite lipstick was Revlon's "Wine with Everything" which I always said was my motto as well as my color.

But for a story: several years ago, for my Ahem-50th-cough birthday my husband treated me to a cruise on the Queen Mary 2. 7 days at sea, 4 formal nights. I forgot to pack any lipstick. In the tiny cosmetics shop on-board, they only carried Chanel lipstick. I bought a beautiful color, Rouge Allure, but I think it cost me $35 or $40!

[Renee]

I don't have a lipstick story, but loved yours. My 'perfect shade' of nail polish keep getting discountinued and I have to chose a new one, usually going through a bunch before I'm remotely happy. Hate that!

[lisa]

Yes. I have never worn lipstick (and rarely makeup). Maybe a tinted gloss (rarely). A few years back Mary Kay came through the yarn shop with their "every woman" kit and was looking for willing volunteers (experimental test subjects?) so they could go on with before and after photos about how the shades looked great on everybody. So she came to my house, made me up, didn't believe me that pretty much all lipstick looks awful on me. Then she put it on and said "oh my, that's not good".

And promptly took it off and put some light gloss on. Then took the photo.

Something about the pigments in my lips super saturate the color??? What I end up looking like is dead. Made up by the mortician.

[elizabeth a airhart]

i had a fire and ice mother

my favorites are dscontinued

no one knew i needed glasses as i was
growing up i was a mess with make up etc
still am if i forget my glasses

[MelissaG]

I have never been able to make lipstick or nail polish work for me. But I've got a gloss I like (more or less). Just balm me.

As for the lipstick story: growing up my friend's mother always wore this bright pink which entranced me. About 25 years later I had an opportunity (there's a LONG story in there) to knit her a gift and found a yarn with that very shade. Little did I know she'd gone from dark brown to caramel and it no longer suited.

[Lisa in Toronto]

When I first read the post I thought you meant you wore a light beige coat, as in garment, with the bright red lipstick ...
I really don't wear lipstick.
Have you googled Lucy recently?
Inquiring minds want to know.
thanks for the great post!

[Beth in STL]

My maternal grandmother was a no-nonsense Midwestern farm wife. But whenever she went into town, she always dressed up and put on her red lipstick.

I love red or berry lipstick. Unfortunately my husband hates all lipstick equally. My office is pretty casual and male-dominated, so lipstick looks out of place and I've gotten out of the habit of wearing it. But I still think of Nanny whenever I wear red lipstick for a special occasion.

[Laurie]

My favorite reds are Browned Down Red by Jane and (discontinued) Maybelline Red Dawn. Both subtle, not in yer face. Oh, I also have a tube of some red from Cover Girl - it's that long-lasting kind that you put on then put the gloss on over it and it stays until you sandblast it off. Great for performances! I swear, if there is a nuclear holocaust the only things that will be left are cockroaches, banjos, and that red lipstick.!!

My mother loved Revlon Cherries In the Snow. I remember being about four and figuring anything with that name must taste like cherries. Yup, I chomped a whole tube of Cherries In the Snow, then came downstairs and gave Mom a BIG smile. She never recovered...

[JudithinNYC]

No story comes to mind just want to vent about growing old. I don't usually wear makeup but every once in a while I like to look all girly and stuff, ya know? Well, in the last few years I look like Carol Burnett in that skit whenever I put make up on. (People used to marvel about how pretty I could look.) Maybe it's time to go to the makeup counter and ask for help with old lady makeup.

PS After rereading the comment to check for glaring mispellings,etc. I realized that maybe my problem is trying to look girly. OMFG!!! Maybe I have to go for the elegant look. So not me.

[Susanne]

My mom was a Revlon girl with all those dark red colors. I like Revlon too and my favorite color as lipstick and nail polish is A Toast of New York. Can't find the nailpolish anymore, but think this is the perfect color which goes with reds, browns and purples.

[claudia]

I'm not a red lipstick girl. But recently I've fallen hard for the lip glosses.....