I was scrolling through my emails last week and came upon one of those "ghost" ads: you know, the ones with the star as opposed to the actual "sent to you" notice. It was for a lipstick that would adapt to your natural lip tone to create your perfect shade. Of course I was intrigued, so I clicked on it.
The website certainly said all the right things. It's made for women "of a certain age" who had given up wearing lipstick for various reasons, like now at their age the lipstick bled into the lines around their lips (I don't have lines around my lips); lipstick was feeling too heavy, or they felt like they couldn't wear the colors of their youth. For special occasions I still wear lipstick: typically in a nice dark red or with a hint of mahogany. Those are my signature colors. But what if they weren't my TRUE colors? Shouldn't I buy this lipstick so it could match my lips' natural pH and turn into the perfect color for me?
YES! Thankfully there was an offer for buy one get one free, so I figured Brie needed her perfect lip shade too. (You know Kitty has her own colors that look amazing on her, including dark blue). Brie doesn't even wear lipstick! So with the free shipping, I paid $20 for two lipsticks 😮 I couldn't wait for them to arrive!
After I placed my order, I explored the website a bit more. Hmm...I probably should have done this first because I noticed that all of the women who had ordered this and left a review were white. I am not. Would this make a difference? Let's find out!
The package arrived last Thursday. I eagerly opened the package and took one of the lipsticks out. What a beautiful case! I took the top off, only to discover that the lipstick wasn't exactly the same as it was in the ad. In the ad it was clear with gold flecks. Mine was more of a translucent pink with flecks. However, I was still going to give it a go. I called Brie into the room. "The lipstick is here!"
When she came into the living room I gave her one. "Let's try it!" She looked at it dubiously. "Do you really think this will work?" "Of course! The pH-adaptive formula will adapt to our unique chemistry! One-two-three apply!"
We did. We waited 1 - 2 minutes like the packaging said for our true color to appear. "Um..." Brie began, "I don't think it's working." "Well, let's add another coat and see what happens!"
We could have applied 10 more coats but the result would be the same: hers was a light pink and mine was a dark pink. Somehow I don't think that is my natural and correct color, or Brie's either for that matter. Nope: doesn't work for women of color! There was no color change on my top lip but my bottom lip, because it's lighter in color, was the only thing that took any color and it is too light for me. Sigh...
As PT Barnum supposedly said: there's one born every minute. As Brie often tells me: I can be a bit gullible. Which is better than her calling me a sucker! However, I'm not going to return the lipsticks. It feels really nice, like a lip balm, and lasts a long time, so my lips stay soft. I guess I'll just count that as the win!
And here's the picture:
I'll be going back to my dark red for special occasions!
