I do not wear lipstick. I have not worn lipstick since 2009 when my workout “buddy” (there’s going to be a lot of quotes in this post) told me that you have to be “truly beautiful” to wear red lipstick. I remember it like it was yesterday:
Me to Workout “Buddy” (after doing some torture called “burpees” that my boot camp leader swore was the best workout on the planet): I bought three shades of red lipstick last week, but I don’t think any of them looks good on me.
Workout “Buddy” to Me: Well, I think you have to be truly beautiful to wear red lipstick.
Me (after waiting for retraction from Workout “Buddy” affirming my not-so-true beauty and getting nothing): Yeah, you’re probably right.
I went home after that grueling workout and even more grueling put down (Honest comment?) and changed my lipstick color from Fire Engine Red to Oreo Cookie Black – not a shade, the real thing. My whole self-worth was not wrapped up in my buddy’s comments (okay, about 65% of it apparently was because I’m still ranting about it seven years later); rather, I realized that my face was not one that others would see and remark, “Wow, she is beautiful.”
Don’t get me wrong. I have never been one to flaunt my looks. I was no beauty pageant winner, no runway model, not even one to attract an occasional attractive man at the bar. Yet, in my mind, I was good: thin, nice natural hair color, eyes of relatively equal proportion, no third nipple. But I guess in the back of my mind I was always waiting for that day when I would really come into my own. That day when I was older and my boobs would blossom (Where are you guys?), my makeup application would be flawless (No more clown blush!), and I would be the “truly beautiful” woman that my awkward teenage self thought I could grow up to be. After my buddy’s comments I realized that I had grown up but such a day had not come.
And that’s how that story used to end. But recently, another friend who knew of my lipstick phobia gave me a tube of Dior Addict Lip Glow that, for those of you who have not tried it, is a sheer lip balm that enhances the natural color of your lips. Or, in other words, it morphs into the unique color that makes your lips “truly beautiful.”
Now, I can’t say I’m ready for the runway, but when I put on the Lip Glow I feel good because I think about my thoughtful and generous friend whose simple gesture reminded me that you don’t have to be “truly beautiful” to wear any color of lipstick. You just are truly beautiful when you help someone else feel beautiful too.
(No, Dior did not sponsor this post. I should be so lucky.)