{"id":3850,"date":"2014-02-05T08:38:22","date_gmt":"2014-02-05T00:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/?p=3850"},"modified":"2014-02-05T11:59:29","modified_gmt":"2014-02-05T03:59:29","slug":"vintage-red-the-lipstick-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/vintage-red-the-lipstick-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Vintage Red: Tara’s Lipstick Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Okay. You asked, so I blogged. About lipstick.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in vintage and mid-century makeup styles you can’t have missed that red was the popular lipstick colour of the era for everyone from Hollywood stars to popular pin-ups and WWII munitions factory workers who wore red to show their patriotism. (Read:\u00a0\u201cSpeak Softly and Carry a Lipstick\u201d: Government Influence on Female Sexuality through Cosmetics During WWII<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

For decades I was strictly a ‘nude’ lip girl, but since my vintage turn in late 2012 (Read:\u00a0Hate The Way Modern Fashions Treat Your Curves? Go Retro<\/a>) I have adopted red lips as my regular look. Now that I am 40, I find that nude lip colours can wash out my complexion, while a good red gives me an instant lift.\u00a0Some of the most frequent questions I now get from those interested in vintage style are about red lipsticks.\u00a0What works?\u00a0<\/em>What stays?<\/em><\/p>\n

Many people who like the look of red lipstick think they can’t pull it off. My feeling is that if you like the red lip look, you probably can make it work if you choose a red lipstick that matches your skin tone on the rough chart below. (I am a ‘medium’). It may take some experimentation to find the right one for you. The main concerns, however, seem to be that red lipstick will ‘bleed’ around the mouth (especially as you get older and develop more lovely character lines) or that it will come off on everything. Obviously, the brighter or darker the colour, the more potential mess it makes.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, I thought I would conduct a basic test of the three red lipsticks I have worn the most in the past year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here they are in order of retail price:<\/p>\n

1. The Lindy Charm School For Girls classic 1\u00a0Russian<\/a>\u00a0red lipstick.<\/strong>\u00a0This one is advertised as ‘enriched with soothing vitamin E\u00a0 to keep your lips dewy soft’, is described as ‘long lasting’ and\u00a0retails at $20.<\/p>\n

2. Clinique’s High Impact #12 Red-Y To Wear.<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>This is advertised as a ‘long wearing lipstick with SPF15’. It retails for $36.<\/p>\n

3. MAC’s A53\u00a0Russian Red<\/a>.<\/strong> This retails for $36.<\/p>\n

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These three red lipsticks vary slightly in colour. Clinique’s Red-Y-To Wear was the first red I tried, and comes up on me as a red-bronze. It’s not too vintage looking, but still enough to give a pop of colour for a modern vintage look. Last year I attended a fun\u00a0vintage class<\/a>\u00a0put on by the Lindy Charm School for Girls and tried their classic ‘Russian’ red. This was a more vintage look and I quickly became addicted to it, though I continued to use both. Recently, I tried MAC’s Russian Red, reportedly a favourite of burlesque icon Dita Von Teese. I have had comments and questions on all three.<\/p>\n

Makeup tends to wear differently on different people, but after using these lipsticks regularly, I found that none of them dried out my lips in the way some lipsticks advertised as ‘long lasting’ or ‘long wear’ can tend to. It’s also worth noting that I don’t powder my lips or use sealant or other tricks to make the colour stay, and for the test, below, I used only liner and lipstick – no gloss, sealant, powder, etc.<\/p>\n

Let’s get started with our test:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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To test these three lipsticks I drew a line with each to show the pigment of the product, above, then blotted my lips on the paper one time only. Finally, after this, I did the glass test, below. Though this is hardly scientific, I attempted to repeat the same procedure with each lipstick, using the same lip liner underneath (I just do the outer lip shape, rather than filling in the whole lip), using the same amount of lipstick in application (I go straight from the lipstick rather than using a brush for application) and I removed all of my makeup before testing the next lipstick.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Look:<\/strong><\/p>\n

With each lipstick I have drawn a line to show the ‘true’ colour before it is on and blends with your natural lip colour and skin tone to create something individual to you. For now, let’s just focus on the lines under each title. You can see that Clinique Red-Y To Wear is the brightest and warmest lipstick\u00a0(and makes a pretty good letter kissing lipstick, if you are into that sort of thing), Lindy Charm School (LCS) Russian is a bit deeper, and MAC Russian Red is the deepest red with the most brown in the pigment.<\/p>\n

Now for the wear of the lipstick. For this, I did a wine glass test.<\/p>\n

The Glass Test:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Well now, doesn’t this glass look a mess?<\/p>\n

In the center we have LSC Russian, which appears slightly more fuschia than Clinique’s Red-Y To Wear, at far right. The Clinique lipstick came off on the glass the most, followed by LCS Russian, which literally came off half as much. The Clinique lipstick made more of a smear, and LCS came off as a neat ‘print’. And this is the fascinating part: MAC’s Russian Red, at far left, is barely visible <\/strong><\/em>on the glass. I did a double take. The lip print is barely noticeable. This staying power is also represented in the blotting in the image at the top of the page, where the Mac lipstick gave by far the most faint kiss mark. After just a single blot, the colour stayed true red and deep on my lips, but barely came off on the glass.<\/p>\n

The Verdict:<\/strong> While each of these three red lipsticks was advertised as long lasting, the actual performance varied enormously. The Clinique<\/a> lipstick comes off easily, the LCS lipstick has much better staying power, and the MAC Russian Red is the absolute stayer. The Lindy Charm School Russian red<\/a>\u00a0lipstick is the best value<\/strong>, as it is nearly half the price of the MAC lipstick but still has very good staying power, comes up as a good vintage red and doesn’t smear. MAC’s Russian Red<\/a> is the deepest of the reds, and from this test, was by far most long wearing of the three lipsticks. As Dita Von Teese<\/a> puts it, ‘that one just stays on forever’.<\/a><\/p>\n

So there you go, vintage lovers. You asked, so I blogged. Your complexion and the look you want to achieve will influence what colours look best on you, but if your main concern is a deep vintage-look red lipstick that stays firmly on your lips and doesn’t bleed or smear, I hope this test was helpful.<\/p>\n

PS\u00a0I’d love to try other brands, particularly Australian-made or those that don’t test on animals, so if you have any recommendations, please add them in the comments below.<\/p>\n

I’ll leave you with this handy vintage lipstick guide, and finally, a shot wearing MAC’s Russian Red:<\/p>\n

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Note: This post is not sponsored.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of the most frequent questions I now get from those interested in vintage style are about red lipsticks. What works? What stays? Obviously, the brighter or darker the colour, the more of a mess it makes if it comes off. With this in mind, I thought I would conduct a basic test of the three red lipsticks I have worn the most in the past year. Here it is, Tara’s Red Lipstick Test…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3850"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3879,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3850\/revisions\/3879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taramoss.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}