The Hunt For The Perfect Lipstick -- The Criteria

Kimberly's Search For The Perfect Lipstick -- Basic Criteria

For the past few months, I've been trying to reclaim my femininity after the beatdown years of 2006 and 2007 (Hypercalcemia, my ex-husband being the such-and-such he is, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Non-Alcoholic Hepatic Steatosis, etc.). Part of that effort has been allowing myself to be pampered in ways I hadn't before. Leg waxing. Massages. Facials. Soaks in whirlpools and relaxation in saunas.

Oh, yeah, and new makeup.


Originally in 2006, I was going to do the all-out facial makeover--but after more than a handful of sit-down sessions at makeup counters, I was beginning to tire of people putting "contemporary" colors on me and telling me how "great" I looked. I'm no fool. Medications, including several rounds of steroids, have pretty much wrecked my figure. I've got pale skin, high cheekbones, T-zone oiliness, a double-chin and thick neck, and some new lines (my mouth now naturally turns downward instead of upward, so smilling almost looks fake) that have invaded my face over the past few years. The last thing a color pallette like mine needs is today's "sheer" look and "nude" lips and all that other happy horse hockey.

In fact, I end up needing only three things:

-- Really Good foundation
-- Good mascara
-- The Perfect Lipstick

I've since found my foundation (M-A-C Studio Fix Powder Foundation, color NW40) and mascara (Urban Decay Skyscraper Mascara, color Gotham). But The Perfect Lipstick? It's been elusive.

So, the hunt is on.

The first step was to decide what I wanted in a lipstick. That's actually easy to define.

-- Nothing orangy or yellowish. My undertones are blue-red, and that's what I want to wear.
-- No frosts, shimmers, pearl finishes, etc. No woman over 40 should be wearing those anyway. Trust me. All shimmering stuff does is highlight the lines already on your lips and around your mouth.
-- No glosses, glazes, sheers, etc. My lips have a natural color--pale cherry, blue-tinted, almost berry-stained. I don't need glosses for that. That's why God invented Chap-Stick. If I'm putting on lipstick, it darn well better have a real color to it.
-- No bright, shiny finish. If my lips look like they've had a coat of Simonize applied, they're too shiny.
-- No plumpers. My top lip may be lacking, but if my bottom lip were any bigger, you could sell advertising on it. Plumpers just make my lips hurt.

So, what that leaves is:

-- Matte finish (preferred), cream or satin if Matte is not available.
-- Red, with a blue tinge. Think "cherry", not "fire engine".
-- Berry colored, all the way from cherry to deep plum. I actually like purple, but it had better be a really dark one to work on my skin.
-- Some brown is O.K. as long as it isn't overpowering the red.
-- Pinks are acceptible if they're on the higher-end of the pigment scale (that is, nothing pastel; if it's not at least hot pink or fuschia, I'm not interested).
-- Whatever it is, it's got to have pigment. I want to see a different color, not the color of my lips.
-- And, perhaps most important, it had better have staying power. I don't mind touching up my lipstick between meetings or after a meal, but I shouldn't go into a meeting with fresh lipstick and come out an hour later with no trace of it left on. This is the main reason for choosing Matte finish lipsticks--they tend to at least leave some color behind as they wear off.

I've been testing out lipsticks now since January. Even when my health wouldn't let me go out, I'd still clean my lips off with a light coating of Pond's Cold Cream and change shades every so often to see how I liked it. In fact, my favorite way to test lipstick staying power is to put on a shade right before I go to bed and see if it's still hanging around by the time I wake up the next day--that way, there's no chance for food/drink/kissing/etc. to wear off the color; either it'll stay on or it won't. My poor stuffed teddy bear and stuffed doggies have pink- and red-stained ears and foreheads, but none of them seem to mind cuddling with me anyway.

Price isn't an object. I've found good candidates in the dollar store, believe it or not. I've found crappy choices from really high-end brands, too.

My reviews, such as they are, will follow this format, more or less:

-- Product name, color name, manufacturer
-- Where purchased (grocery, drugstore, online, Sephora, etc.)
-- Approximate cost per tube
-- An intro to the brand/facts about the brand/etc.
-- The basic look of the tube itself
-- The look of the color in the tube, including the shape of the lipstick product (flat, bullet-shaped; embellished, chiseled, etc.)
-- How it goes on (color, finish, etc.)
-- How it tastes (through eating/drinking/licking lips/etc., women who wear lipstick on a daily basis probably consume around 4 lbs. of it over their lifespan; cosmetic companies are aware of this, and many scent their products to make their presence on the lips more pleasant)
-- How it looks after blotting (lots of lip products come off after the first blot)
-- Does it last? How does it look as it's wearing off?
-- Is it The Perfect Lipstick? Is it at least a candidate?

The reviews will be published as I get around to them. Watch this space for more.

In fact, I'll start off with one right now, just as an example.

Candidate: Paula Dorf Lip Color, "Legend" (Paula Dorf New York)

Purchased: Beauty.com

Cost: $19.00 per tube

Brand Info: http://www.pauladorf.com/ (also available at Sephora and Beauty.com)
Paula Dorf started out making makeup brushes for use in applying heavier stage makeup when she was the makeup artist for a number of musicians. Along the way, she expanded into a basic set of color "looks" in eye makeup, rouge, and lipsticks to go along with her now widely-copied brush and tool line. Her clients include Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, and Courtney Cox.

The Tube: Matte Black with glossy "Pd" embossings. At the mid-tube join is a glossy plastic black ring which stands out against the matte black. Top has a stylized "Pd" logo in white. The base is a sticker, white print on black background, with the brand info.

The Product: Classic 40s Movie Star Red, lots of blue undertone (more cherry than fiery), bullet-shaped product with a concave slope at the point of delivery.

The Application: Creamy, smooth. The concave slope causes issues on my smaller top lip, where it has a tendency to apply product outside the lip boundry. Worse, the same problem happens on my larger lower lip, causing two spots of "outside the lines" application. If this tip had a normal flat diagonal delivery point, it would be easier to apply. PaulaDorf.com says to "apply with a lip brush". The finish is a slightly moist cream. The color on the lips isn't nearly as intense as the tube looks, which is probably good because the color in the tube is a little dramatic for everyday wear. It's perfectly suitable for evening wear, or if you like strong bold colors for your daytime look. I like really bold blue-reds, so this is great for me.

The Taste: No added fragrance, so any taste there is comes from the ingredients, most of which are relatively tasteless. Tastes kind of crayon-like.

The Blot: Feels dry. Nice lip print comes off. A second blot produces only a faint bit of color on the tissue.

The Wear: After an afternoon of coding and sipping at a bottle of water, the color still remains, even as most of the product itself has worn off. The color is pretty even across the lips; no splotchy spots.

The Verdict: I'd be happier with a flatter application tip, but other than that this is a perfectly good lipstick. It is, however, a little pricey at $19/tube and getting just the right angle with that concave tip can be a little frustrating.

I'm hoping this turns out to be a lot of fun.