- How do you put on your lipstick?
Quickly! No mirror (unless it’s a special occasion and I’m wearing a darker color).
- Do you paint your top or bottom lip first?
Top right starting from center, then top left, also from center, then bottom, right-to-left-to-right
- Do you push your lips out or tighten them over your teeth?
Tighten them over teeth
- How long does it take you to apply your lipstick?
About ten seconds, normally. But if it’s a special occasion and I’m wearing a darker color, I might use a lip pencil first, to outline the edges and fill in the insides first. This gives the lipstick a base, which lasts longer after the lipstick on top of it wears off.
- Do you stick with one color or do you use different colors for different occasions?
I use one basic, light color for everyday. I have a darker one I use for special occasions, but I like to look in a mirror for that one, because it’s more obvious if I mess it up. Also need to check to see if any got on my teeth. If I’m expecting to be photographed or on TV (like, singing in a chorus that’s going to be televised – this was an issue many years ago, when I sang in Boston), I use the old trick of a little Vaseline on the front teeth, which is supposed to avoid this problem!
I usually use a Clinique color. Now, there is one color I really love, from Lancome, that I wore for years, but their prices have become so sky-high that I’ve stopped buying it, just out of protest. Ridiculous!
- What does wearing lipstick do for you?
Gives needed color to the face, and also moisturizes. If I’m not going to be around people, I just use Chap Stick. I’m a Chap Stick addict, and have on in my purse, my desk, my bedside table, the car…in my pocket… everywhere!
- How many lipsticks do you have?
One that I use regularly, another that I use occasionally, plus a collection of glosses that came from Who Knows Where, then I don’t use much at all. A bit too gloppy.
- How many do you actively use? How many are just gathering dust?
One active, one occasional, three glosses gathering dust.
- Do you carry your lipstick paraphernalia in a special bag?
Nope – just in a special section of my purse, with a few other things.
- When did you start wearing lipstick?
Early teens
- Who taught you to put on lipstick?
No one actually taught me, but I used to watch my mother put on lipstick, and sort of followed her technique.
- What is your favorite color and brand?
The one I really like but refuse to buy any more is Lancome “Sugared Maple.” The one I actually use is Clinique “Sugar Bean.” The Lancome occasional one is “Henne” – I think it came in one of those free sample bags.
- Do you have a funny lipstick story?
No, but I’ve always thought it was interesting to see the shape into which women “whittle” their lipsticks as they use them! My godmother, many years ago, wore hers to an almost perfect point. My mother, who always wore Clear Red, wore hers flat, as if someone had sliced it off with a knife, straight across. Mine is at a modified angle.
- What will happen to your lipsticks when you die?
They will probably go to hell with me, in my handbasket…
- New Orleans style, no doubt, with "When the Saints Go Marching in" playing full out! Thank you, Barbara, for answering every question on the list. I'm nominating you for Lipstick Saint. No, Chapstick Saint!
