My contribution to women today

So in addition to things that I think are funny, I also think women are wonderful, beautiful and should be running things.

As an esthetician (skin care therapist) and make-up artist, I want to do my part and contribute something to the women of the world who also want to make it a better place.

My contribution you ask? It's none other than....Lipstick.

I love lipstick. I can't live without it. Either a liner, gloss or lipstick it doesn't matter, it has to be on me most of the time or I will perish.

Whenever I would cry to my mom, she would say "put on some lipstick, you'll feel better". It wouldn't matter if my heart was broken or I ruined my dress, (or had a terrible hangover remembering what actually did happen with Elliot Blankenship in the back of my Camaro), lipstick always made it better. She would tell me how my Grandma Duetz would take her red creme blush and put it on her lips "like this" she would say and start at the top center of the lips.

In the 80's my favorites were Silver City Pink, Soft Shell Pink & Pink Ice by Revlon. My BFF's wore all the same one's too, Thank God!I couldn't put enough on. I'd wear it down and then scrape the rest of it out with a tweezers and then a toothpick. I don't know why I didn't just steal it. I used to steal candy like it was going to be the last meal.

I used to wish I had the entire Revlon lipstick collection in my bathroom like it was displayed at Rite-Aid. I probably would have locked myself in there and OD'd on the stuff.

I have remembered different times of my life by the shades of lipstick I wore.

At one point, I wanted any kind of lipstick that had alcohol mentioned in it.
Wine with Everything
Rum Raisin
Mulled Wine
Vintage Wine
Burgundy Bistro

In the early to mid 90's there it was ALL ABOUT MAC:
Twig - I had always wanted to be called one
Paramount - I had always wanted at job there
Fetish - I had many- they usually had names like Ty, James and Tommy
Brick - I threw one once through a guys window to wake him up...he wasn't home- he was at that bitches house who I thought he was cheating on me with.... Ahhh, my dear MAC

My Wedding Day?
Raisin lip pencil stick by Bobbi Brown

When I was selling Mary Kay - Now, many of you say
'Oh, Mary Kay...Didn't she die?' yes, but fortunately for me, her company still made great colors.
Amber Suede- Kinda sounds like a porn star name
Strike-a-Pose Rose- I know the name seems like it's for the over 60's gals- but it's a fabulous dark pinky red
Dusty Rose- Again, another senior citizen name but I wasn't ashamed to wear it
Paradise Pink- I always thought of the Guns & Roses song 'Paradise City'
Raisin Berry - I thought this color was for everyone. It didn't matter what your skin tone was, it looked good on you. Trust me, it did.

I sold over 500 lipsticks while I was selling MK. I have about 327 of them still in my closet.

My daughter likes to put it on now too. She asks me if it will burn (she once put my lip plumper on). Another time she liked the frosted vanilla gloss so much, she just started eating it out of the tube.

So many colors, so many stories. I used to not want to wear bold reds because I thought I would be thought of as wild. Funny, I recall having a threesome wearing 'fawn' by Stila.

So, if i'm having a hard time finding the right color, I will sometimes go back to the color I was wearing when I had the most fun in my life, when I was most in love or feeling the best I ever had.
Recently, I have become a bit of an activist.
Today I'm wearing Viva Glam VI by MAC. All there Viva Glam lipstick profits go to AIDS research.

I'm just going to keep doing my part, one lipstick at a time.