What is it about lipstick? Why is it indispensable to some, and irrelevant to others? Years ago, when I painted my house white and the door a shade of charcoal, I stood back and declared, ‘This house needs lipstick’. And so I got two red enamelled pots for the front veranda. They were perfect, and they gave the black/white look of the house a lift that still works today, more than ten years later.

When I was a child, my mother was never without lipstick. She did not dabble in much make-up except face powder. She bought this as a loose powder that she would pour into a gold-coloured compact. It had a fine mesh separator to keep the fragrant powder in place. The smell of that powder is still pressed into my memory even though I would have trouble describing it. Every now and then, I catch a whiff of something that takes me back to those days, my mother young, and checking her face, reapplying the powder to freshen herself up. And she was never without lipstick. She kept one in a drawer near the front door in case of unexpected visitors.

I tend to be much more extravagant than that. I have lipsticks in just about every room. Small containers, jugs or lidless sugar bowls dotted here and there throughout the house holding my favourite shades.

One of my colleagues once remarked that lipstick was like war paint. She said you weren’t ready for business (or a meeting) if you didn’t have lipstick on.

I once remarked to another colleague (a man) that I’d heard on a documentary that lipstick was compared to the swollen red behinds of baboons in terms of the role it played in attracting the opposite sex. He snarled with disgust. His partner never wore lipstick.

With the passage of time, I have become less apologetic about wearing lipstick all the time, and more bold with my choice of shades. Now I justify less and pucker up more.

So, when I saw the image I’ve included here, I felt understood. Here was someone else equally enamoured with colouring lips and equally unapologetic about it.

Why do I like wearing lipstick? Not sure I can articulate all the reasons, but mainly because I like how it looks, and how it makes me feel. Without lipstick, I don’t feel completely dressed. Like my charcoal and white house, I feel unfinished. And when I don’t wear lipstick, people tell me I look tired. I’m not tired, I tell them, I’m just not wearing lipstick!

Image: https://au.pinterest.com/explore/isabella-blow-917462522395/