Lipstick, in my opinion, is one of the best accessories to fashion there is. Depending on the color, all brights are my personal favorites, it adds life to your face and ups the anty on your swagger. I'm a medium, brown skinned girl and I've been told, "Trudi, you can get get away with wearing certain colors because of your complexion" or "Girl, those bright colors look good on you, but I'm too dark for that." I never really understood this last comment because I think the darker the skin the feistier and brighter the lip should be. I long for the summer, the only time I can truly tan in the sun and become a couple of shades browner than what I am. The first thing I go reaching for is either my Morange or Impassioned MAC lipsticks to truly show off my tan; but for the sistahs who are naturally the color I'm trying to reach they reject these brights out of fear of looking ridiculous or drawing more attention to a complexion it took them years to accept, although some still haven't.
Today, I met a woman who had skin the color of an Almond Joy candy bar and she was dressed in all white, another one of my favorite combos (all white against dark skin, delicious), who admitted to recently becoming comfortable with wearing bright colored lipstick. Our conversation started off with the price of some vintage pants I was interested in, that she happened to be selling, and it snowballed into fashion, our creative and artistic streaks and makeup. She told me and my girlfriend, who was with me, that she had finally found an amazing hot pink lipstick that took her forever to be comfortable in wearing, "I love this lipstick, it gives me such confidence when I wear it." And she took it out of her bag to reapply. Immediately my girlfriend, who is another chocolate beauty, excitedly inquired about the brand and the color. I could see that in seeing this bright color on another woman who is her same complexion, gave her the audacity to dare and try to do the same thing.
Sharing makeup tips and different shades of lipsticks, I told our "new friend" to go out and try a variety of oranges. I gave her the names, bands and numbers to each tube, practically being the spokes person for each makeup company the lipsticks belonged to. And even in my matter-of-fact and convincing tone, I could tell that she was a little skeptical to be so daring. "An ex-boyfriend told me that colors didn't look good on me so I never wore them." After getting rid of him I guess she proved to herself, with the help of Makeup Forever, that one particular color did look good on her and she now wears it with pride. But what about all the other dark skinned sistahs in this world who have been told the same ignorant things by loved ones or even strangers that their skin is too dark or that a certain shade doesn't look good on them? How much convincing will it take for those, who aren't confident enough to pull off a bold lip, to step out of their comfort zone and enter the world of reds, hot pinks, bright oranges, fuchsia and barbie pinks?
I don't know what the answer to that is, but I do know that black people, as a race, have to do better in building each other up instead of putting each other down about how dark or light we are. We come in a an array of colors, a rainbow coalition of beauty that has the right to dare to be bright!
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