Lipstick jungle

Lipstick may very well be the woman’s equivalent to a man’s one-night stand. The art of selecting and finally picking up one gives you a guaranteed momentary thrill and what happens next can be met with either remorse or the exhilaration of finding the best thing to ever happen to you.

Like fairy tales, happy endings may not be that far off even in this jaded world. Sure, there is that romantic myth of the one-night stand that becomes a lasting marriage – an urban legend keeping errant femme fatales optimistic. For a woman, even the most low-maintenance one, she will have at the very least three tubes of lipstick in her house. Maybe some drugstore brands that are now serving as toys to her cats or a crayon to her toddler. As women we all know that our number one impulse buy is a tube of lipstick. Whether we’re feeling puffy or hopeless in love, there’s nothing like a shiny tube of rouge to make us temporarily believe that everything will be better. I, for one, have two drawers filled with them (I have issues), most of them used just once; then, after they have served their purpose, they are conveniently tucked away from my peripheral vision to save me from buyer’s remorse. However, once in a while there comes along a tiny tube that shrinks to a stub brought on by everyday use. It’s the cosmetic equivalent of the romantic myth of the one-night stand gone good.

In my case, it was a Nars lipgloss called Sunset Strip.

I was feeling like my daily routine had made me into a premature soccer mom. So I decided to be bold and bought the flashiest color of gloss I could find. I chose orange. My drawers were lined with nudes and shiny pinks. This would be a change, my first step in reclaiming my spunk. The impulse purchase became the find of a lifetime.

I think that’s what makes Nars so special. Its colors are not the regular cookie-cutter tones that you see, well, everywhere. They are bold, sexy, dangerous and naughty, and yet they complement everyone in terms of skin tone and personality. It’s almost like it hints that there is a bad girl in every one of us and a good girl as well. Nars suggests that our personalities are just as complex as their colors. True enough, you can blindly pick a shade from a Nars counter (whether it be a pale baby pink or a shock of fuchsia) and still look like you, only better. It’s not about being safe when you’re rocking Nars, it’s about being an individual.

Of course, aside from color there are a myriad of textures that you can choose from. The lip lacquers deliver thick pigment with a high-gloss sheen. It ranges from pales to brights allowing you to be either.

Baby Spice or Posh Spice. The lip glosses are perhaps the most popular, giving great shine with a shot of color – not a tepid tint, but rather a bright and illuminating flash. Although lipliners have gotten a bad reputation in the Nineties for those hideous mall-rat looks, a well-matched pencil can do wonders for deep-colored lip color. Without it you will risk looking like you smeared jam or ketchup on your face!

If you are a gal on the go or the extreme opposite, which is being extremely lazy, the Velvet lip pencil is perfect for defining and coloring your pucker. Dab with gloss for an easier finish. Last but not least are the trademark cream finishes of the Nars lipstick line, which delivers color-true pigment, meaning it looks the same from tube to lips and stays on and on without feathering.

I know it’s just lipstick. However, us women know better. The right tube can really feel like finding the "one."

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Nars is available at Rustan’s Essenses.