By MaryAnna Donovan

I can hear it now – who cares about the history of lipstick?
First, we are still in some pretty depressing and difficult economic times.
Second, lipstick is a perfect way to perk up a gloomy day and add some cheap chic to our “wardrobe.”
Finally, a brief look at the history of lipstick will hopefully entertain as well as take you away from your daily drudgery.

Lipstick, believe it or not, has a rather formidable history.
Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Samaria, Babylonia – these are the times and places in which lipstick had its roots.
I picture Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra – can you see her going without her lipstick?
Of course, it goes without saying that the lipstick of yore is nothing like our lipstick of today.

The exact origin of luscious lips is a town called Ur which was located outside of Babylon.
About 5000 years ago, to be exact, ladies would crush semi-precious stones (Yikes!), mix them with a pasty material, and smear them on their lips.
Red was the color of choice.

The Egyptian women used the purplish-reddish color in iodine and bromine which led to death and disease.
What price for beauty, eh Brutè?
As for our friend Cleopatra, would you believe her lips were adorned with a paste of ants eggs combined with carmine beetles?
Even back then, women wanted that shine we find in shimmery, frosted shades of lipstick. Ready for this – they used fish scales to get that glow and attract those charioteers.
Can you imagine putting such a thing on your lips?
A more reasonable alternative then was henna.
I’ll go for the henna and forgo the shine, thank you very much.

Onward we go to the Elizabethan Age.
This was the time, thanks to Queen Elizabeth I, where woman looked like walking corpses – faces painted white and lips – hemorrhage red.
We are approaching a more modern concoction in this age what with lipsticks made from beeswax and plants and flowers.
Surprise, surprise – men weren’t about to let ladies have all the fun, so they got in the act with their red lips, too.

Along we trot to the 1770’s and here all hell breaks loose.
In England, where we had all the fun in the previous century (albeit looking like death), a law was passed banning lipstick – or any makeup, for that matter – because it meant a woman was a seducing witch!
Even Queen Victoria was a lipstick party-pooper.

Jumping ahead to after World War II, lipstick experienced a big-time revival!
Yes, the movie biz was a part of lipstick’s exploding popularity, but I can’t help but think that the tides of the time: reunited lovers, an atmosphere of frugality, and a desire to add some “cheap chic” to otherwise tired, dull wardrobes.

By MaryAnna Donovan

Lips! They have lips – big, red, pouty, sexy lips.
I do believe that lips are the most under-rated part of the female anatomy. I mean, how many men swoon over your lips?
I’ll tell you, not one man in my entire several decade life has ever looked twice at my lips.
Granted, they are pencil thin, and granted, I couldn’t pull off the red, pouty look if you paid me.
But I CAN pull off the gentle, subtle pink or mauve look, and what a difference it makes, both to my beauteous self esteem as well as to my pencil thin lips.

In the present economic state of the world, we hate-to-daters can’t afford to buy brand new outfits, perfumes, or shoes before every date with a new man.
But generally speaking, we CAN afford to head over to Walgreens and get a new tube of luscious, juicy, and oh so red (pink in my case) lipstick offered by the likes of L’Oreal, Maybelline, Revlon, or Cover Girl.
Not surprising, during this recession, the sales of lipstick have indeed skyrocketed for the very reasons I suggest to you here – cheap chic.

The Lipstick Trilogy.
These three articles will talk to you about the History of Lipstick – and believe me, you are going to be mighty surprised by this; instructions on How to Buy Lipstick, and finally, guidelines on How to Apply Lipstick.Men, and so you don’t feel left out, I’ll also present a series for you on hair gels, mousse, hairsprays, and pomades.
How cool is that?
Unlike a woman’s lips, a man’s hair is highly rated on the attractiveness scale. I call this series The Trump (as in Donald) Trilogy.My friends, I look forward to our next session, and in the meantime, enjoy your lips, ladies, and gents – think hair, albeit not as in Donald Trump.