Lipstick Shades

I do not wear any makeup on my skin.
The only thing I use is moisturizer, morning and night.
I have taught my daughters the same principles.
Less is more.

I don’t like to be in the sun.
My Irish skin and the sun do not mix.
I have had my share of sunburns when I was younger.
Those were the days of baby oil on my skin and Sun In on my hair.

I cringe to think of those early teenage years.
Instead of embracing the fair skin I had, I tried to “tan,” which was never a possibility.
I am faithful to go to have my skin checked each year.
Thankfully, those early sunburns are just memories.

I do use a bit of mascara on my eyes.
Everyone who knows me, can attest that I will never forget my lipstick.
If one has to have a signature anything, lipstick is mine.
As we age, and our hair grays, our lips pale.

Since our smile is so important, lipstick is the one bit of makeup I can justify.
But to find the right shade…
That takes time.
The right shade really matters.

It has to be enough to give you a bit of color.
It has to be understated so that it is seen without being seen.
Through the years, I have found that shade for me.
However, after I wear it and make it my own, the company discontinues the shade.

That has happened more times than I can count through the years.
Then, I am back to square one.
I buy my lipstick at a cosmetic counter, even though it is a bit more expensive.
I can never go to a makeup aisle in a store and choose the right shade for me.

Many years ago, at the cosmetic counter, the woman told me something I never forgot.
Your lips eat color, she said.
I still don’t understand her choice of words, but she did explain what she meant.
Even when the color in the tube looks dark, it is not dark on me.

It happened again.
They discontinued my color.
I had to go to the cosmetic counter and try to find something similar.
I brought my own tube of lipstick to try to match the shade.

There I was, tube in hand with the lipstick turned up above the rim.
There I was, bringing my tube next to the sample shades to try to match the color.
I put a line on my hand with my shade of lipstick.
When I thought I found something close, I put a line of that color on my hand as well.

I must have had about ten lines of lipstick shades on my hand.
Some were very close.
Some were too pink.
Some were too red.

The woman behind the counter picked a shade that was quite close.
However, the fluorescent lighting in the store is just awful.
I needed to see this color in the light of day.
I purchased the tube of lipstick, only to get out to my car, in the sun, and see it was wrong.

I went back in the store and returned it without ever applying it to my lips.
The woman smiled because she knows me and knows how finding a new shade is so hard.
I looked again and saw one I had missed before.
Names of lipstick are very interesting and quite dramatic; many make me giggle.

This is the one, I told the woman, who immediately opened the drawer to find it.
Oh, we’re out of that shade, she told me.
I truly should have thrown in the towel, except I needed a tube of lipstick.
I decided that I would order it online, taking my chances that the color would work.

The lipstick arrived.
I opened the box with trepidation.
I put it on and was so excited to see that I could not tell one shade from the other.
My old tried and true lipstick and this new shade matched.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
(1 Peter 3:3,4)

Beauty comes from within.
That inner beauty is the beauty God prefers.
God does not look at the outward appearance as we do.
Rather, God looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

I will still buy my lipstick.
I will still enjoy wearing it.
Much time and attention went into finding the right lipstick shade.
May even more attention go into the inner beauty that never fades away.