Shop Talk is written by OM senior editor Dayanti Karunaratne and Sarah Fischer, OM account executive and fashion maven.
Earlier this week, we received a press release from one of our sister publications, FASHION Magazine. To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the magazine, they’re teaming up with L’Oréal Paris to launch a limited-edition lipstick — and they’re inviting Canadians to name the shade!
We like contests, and we love when our company is affiliated with anything fashion-related, so we read on.
The contest, which runs until April 1, asks Canadians to enter a name that reflects the colour of the lipstick (and maybe the last 35 years of fashion, perhaps?). A panel of judges from L’Oréal Paris and FASHION Mag will create a shortlist of five names; from April 2-24 the public can vote on their favourite.
The prize is certainly cool: in addition to $500 of L’Oréal swag, there are tickets for two to FASHION Mag’s party (spa treatments + dinner included!) and a $2,000 shopping spree.
But something else in the presser caught our attention, and started an interesting discussion.
“Lipstick is the go-to item in a woman’s cosmetic bag — the beauty perennial that finishes her look, gives her confidence, and allows her to express her individuality to the world,” says Bernadette Morra, editor in chief, FASHION Magazine.
While lipstick is definitely in our cosmetics bag, it’s not at the top. True, we aren’t FASHION Mag, but we are professional women. Dayanti puts it on in the morning, looks in the mirror, feels confident … then goes to work, has a latte, and the colour stays on the cup.
Sarah is not a lipstick-wearing gal at all — she finds it painfully hard to maintain perfectly painted lips throughout the day, so avoids it altogether. But she admits that, when she does put on bright red shade for a special event, she totally loves the look.
We both agreed it might have something to do with our moms. Both go neutral (or nothing). Maybe you need an influencer to get you into such things?
Others in the office had different views. As one woman wrote, lipstick is very important as we get older and lose pigment in your lips. “Depth is lost without lipstick. Lipstick makes you appear more youthful and fertile.”
Indeed, as we conducted our informal poll, we started to notice a trend: lipstick use seemed to increase with age.
We’d love to hear from you. Where does lipstick fit into your beauty regime? Why do you — or don’t you — wear lipstick? And for those of us that are just learning how to incorporate lipstick into our lifestyles, where is an appropriate place to re-apply?
And do visit our sister mag’s website and enter the contest!