What are the benefits of lipstick? The idea for this article began when I was buying a pair of earrings in Bloomingdales. The cheerful woman who rang me up looked absolutely beautiful. Not fake, made up, skinny model beautiful, but cheerful, happy, healthy pretty. She had these bright pink lips that lit up her face and enhanced her smile.
That’s when it hit me. A small item that doesn’t cost very much money and that takes three seconds to apply can make a huge impact on a woman’s physical appearance, as well as the way she feels on the inside.
Never much of a lipstick person in the past, I headed straight to the makeup counter, began trying on colors, and 12 minutes later walked out the door with a couple new shades of lipstick.
This began “The lipstick Experiment,” where I decided to wear my new lipstick religiously for 10 days to see if and how it would make a difference in my life. I wore the lipstick everywhere I went, with the exception of the gym. I wore it even if I had on no other makeup, and even if my hair was in a ponytail and I had on old jeans and sneakers.
The results of this experiment were so much more dramatic than I ever expected!
Here are some benefits of lipstick, based on the things that happened to me during the 10 days:
1. A woman at my local grocery store stopped me and told me I had beautiful eyes. I was not wearing any eye makeup.
2. A friend of mine who I ran into at my kids’ school asked me what brand and color lipstick I was wearing. She then pulled out her iPad and typed in the information.
3. One morning, I was getting some work done at a Starbucks, and realized I forgot to put on the lipstick. I went to the bathroom and applied it, came back to my seat, and a single guy sitting next to me did a very obvious double take.
4. I was then walking out of that same Starbucks and a different guy, (who looked a lot younger than me) was walking to his car and kept turning around and smiling at me. I swear I’m not making this up.
5. I was covering an event for Sun-Times local and a woman I know was there. As I was taking pictures, she turned to me and said “Something is different. I think it’s your hair. You look so young.”
6. Other comments I got from friends included, “You look so gorgeous,” “You look tan. Did you just get back from vacation?” “You look so happy,” and “Did you lose weight?”
7. My favorite story was the very nice looking guy in the Home Depot parking lot, who kept smiling at me, to the point I had to pretend I was on phone so he would get in his car and drive off!
I hope I don’t sound conceited by these stories. They are factual, and quite honestly, shocking. What I learned from “The Lipstick Experiment” is that there are benefits of lipstick that go way beyond looking prettier physically. Even more importantly than LOOKING brighter and better is that wearing lipstick made me FEEL brighter and better.
For those 10 days, I think I exuded a certain self-confidence more than I normally do because wearing lipstick made me feel a certain glamour and femininity and sexiness. What I realized is, why not have that attitude even without wearing lipstick?
It’s a lesson to all women: If you think you are beautiful, and you walk around proud of who you are—both on the inside and out—it will show in your posture, your poise and your demeanor, and you will become more attractive to others.
Oh, another benefit of lipstick is that my lips were really soft and not dry.
I couldn’t resist contacting Northbrook based makeup artist, Elise Brill, (who has been in the business for over two decades) to ask for some lipstick tips, since I know this article might prompt many women to try “The Lipstick Experiment,” and “Berry Punch” isn’t for everyone. Here are Brill’s tips.
1. Don’t buy a lipstick without trying it on. Walk around the store for awhile to determine if you feel pretty in it.
2. Dark lipsticks can be pretty, but if it’s too brown, it can make your teeth look yellow.
3. Just because you love the way a lipstick looks on your friend, that doesn’t mean it will look good on you.
4. Always wear lipstick when having your photo taken. It will enhance your smile.
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Kathiey
Thanks for the advice. I may give it a try:-)
Mary Holden
Reading anything about lipstick makes me happy. I wrote a very short story about what my grandmother told me about it when I was a little girl…and you’ll probably scrape this comment (which is OK with me…I understand why) but here it is: https://marylholden.medium.com/lipstick-ages-e9b00a9a44cf