Is lipstick out?

[Matt Deckard]

I was talking to a makeup artist today and according to her women just aren't slapping on the color like they were even just a year ago.

So I ask you... are you less likely to wear lipstick than you were a few years back, and do you think it's going to die out and should it or shouldn't it?

 

[TheDutchess]

I think Make-up in general tends to follow a cycle very similar to the fashion cycle. So the need for lipstick kind of comes and goes. Just a year or two ago the red lip was really in and now I think there is a shift to a more natural lip. If I do use lipstick with color I either mix it with vasoline and make a light gloss or just stain my lips with a little color. As long as people have a fascination and are influenced with past styles there will always be the need for lipstick.

 

[pigeon toe]

I know I'll be wearing my red lipstick until the day I die! I just don't feel like I look "complete" without lipstick. I rarely follow fashion trends, so it doesn't bother me if what I'm doing is "out"! It usually is, anyway.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Oddly enough.....lipstick sales might have increased, and serve as an indicator of other spending -not- being done.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/fashion/01SKIN.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1


Mr. Lauder noticed that his company was selling more lipstick than usual. He hypothesized that lipstick purchases are a way to gauge the economy. When it’s shaky, he said, sales increase as women boost their mood with inexpensive lipstick purchases instead of $500 slingbacks.

 

[Dracca]

I will probably always wear lipstick (99% of the time a pretty true bright or deep red), as I always have through trends changing in the past.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That follows a pattern that goes back to the war years at least -- the cosmetic industry really pushed inexpensive products like lipstick as a way of keeping the homefront cheery during times of rationing and shortages. I suspect as the economy worsens, the current trends will reverse.

As for me personally, I'm with Pigeon -- I've never followed modern trends in my life, and I don't intend to start now. Besides, without lipstick I look like something out of the Dust Bowl, and that's a vintage look that isn't flattering on anyone.

 

[CherryRed]

Agreeing here with Pigeontoe and Lizzie, you will have to pry it from my cold dead hands.

 

[goldwyn girl]

Agreeing here with Pigeontoe and Lizzie, you will have to pry it from my cold dead hands.

Mine too !!!! I am never with out red lipstick.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Point here is ....


You asked the wrong crowd of folks if you wanted a 'mainstream women' answer, Matt.

 

[Lillemor]

Lipstick comes and goes as a fashion and some of us just don't care what fashion dictates because it's a matter of preference. I generally prefer gloss in the winter months and lipstick in the summer, opposite of most people.

It's also partially seasonal and occasional. So you may (not you personally ) wear lipstick more frequently in the colder months and for evening occasions.

As a vintage/retro gal I'm a bit unusual in that I haven't found a shade of red that suits me, so apart from wine and berry shades, I don't really own a "true" red lipstick. I've lost count of how many lipsticks I own and I'm sure there are some I've never even worn.

Hub recently commented on my lipstick when he wanted to kiss me. I replied that there are so many dull or dissatisfactory things in my life that I will allow myself this one colorful pleasure that has a brightening effect on my mood. That doesn't just apply to lipstick though but make-up in general.

Lipstick or make-up in general may also be a relatively cheap way to try some trendy colors without compromising your wardrobe budget and general style.

 

[MK]

.

No.

 

[=ritzy=]

No, all i have ever used is red lipstick and i dont think I can ever wear another color in my whole lifetime. I do wear raspberry lipgloss when i dont feel like wearing any lipstick. But even then, it has a red tint to it...so do i think lipstick is out...not at all...

 

[BegintheBeguine]

...without lipstick I look like something out of the Dust Bowl, and that's a vintage look that isn't flattering on anyone.

That made me laugh right out loud. LizzieMaine, you have a way with words.




I sell to some of the mainstream and no, lipstick isn't out. Here are some trends I've noticed, if anyone is interested: young Asian and Black women want lip gloss. Young White women want lipstick. Older women of all races want lipstick or lip gloss worn over lipstick. No one shade is the most asked for now, which makes it fun.
Ashley

 

[Miss 1929]

I'm in if it's out!

Agreed with Miss Neecarie, this is the wrong place to be bringing up such HERESY!!!! I have been wearing red lipstick every day since 1979, I am not about to stop now!

 

[BakingInPearls]

Lipstick is something that many girls on the lounge can't live without but after doing makeup for 7 plus years I have seen a downward spiral in it. I can sell lipstick to anyone because in many cases it is a cheap ticket item. But in reality the customer goes home wears it once for a special event or just to try it and then throws it in the back of the drawer otherwise knows as a cosmetics graveyard. I firmly believe that those horrid sticky lip gloss tubes that are filled with glitter are catching on more with the younger crowd then our beautiful lipstick.

 

[Foofoogal]

I look like something out of the Dust Bowl

made me laugh too. Every old barn looks better with a little paint on it. I heard this once. lol

 

[BegintheBeguine]

I was basing my answer on not just myself but on the hundreds of women I see every week, at the library and out and about, and the several who are my customers. None of them is interested in anything vintage but at least half of them are wearing lipstick.
Ashley

 

[jayem]

Oddly enough.....lipstick sales might have increased, and serve as an indicator of other spending -not- being done.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/fashion/01SKIN.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1


Mr. Lauder noticed that his company was selling more lipstick than usual. He hypothesized that lipstick purchases are a way to gauge the economy. When it’s shaky, he said, sales increase as women boost their mood with inexpensive lipstick purchases instead of $500 slingbacks.

Reminds me of this story (I'll paraphrase since it's incredibly depressing):

"...an excerpt from the diary of Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin DSO who was among the first British soldiers to liberate Bergen-Belsen in April 1945. This diary is archived at the Imperial War Museum in London, England.

It was shortly after the British Red Cross arrived, though it may have no connection, that a very large quantity of lipstick arrived. This was not at all what we men wanted, we were screaming for hundreds and thousands of other things and I don't know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the postmortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity."

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

Short answer: No. Maybe the shades have changed to a more natural look, but I for one can't survive without my lipstick! Two times of having people ask "Are you OK?" when I wasn't wearing my lipstick, and that was that.

Originally posted by jayem:
I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the postmortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity."

Sheer, unadulterated brilliance indeed! You can face the world a little better when you have something like lipstick. I was about to post that I read something similar in a book about women in the Resistance. I'll see if I can find it again. IIRC, it was about how women in the concentration camps would find mundane things to add a little color to their lips and eyes.

 

[KittyT]

The classic look never goes out of style, therefore, neither will lipstick.