Unmasking Red Lips
The holidays are upon us, and while we will all be wearing masks for most of our days and nights, many of us will get spruced up for at least one dinner, a family photo, or even a virtual cocktail party. Since it is almost universally agreed upon that red lipstick is one of the ultimate festive holiday adornments, I know that some of you will be trying it for those un-masked moments of celebration. That said, if you aren’t used to wearing red lips, it can be quite jarring. Jarring like the physical embodiment of those memes that show “what I think I look like” and “what I actually look like.” I have been working as a makeup artist for my entire adult life, yet there have been times when I’ve applied red lips to myself, shockingly reacted to my image in the mirror, and removed the offending color. If I did leave the house while wearing the red lipstick (obviously this is pre-pandemic,) I may have wondered if everyone noticed it, and if my fellow subway riders thought I was wearing So. Much. Makeup. Obviously I am just insane, and it has always looked perfectly normal, but because