June 7th, 2010 
Dear Miss A,
I went to the beach with some friends over Memorial Day weekend. I was driving us all to lunch and reached for my favorite new Chanel lipstick at a traffic light. When I put it against my lips, it broke in half and fell on my lap. Needless to say, we had to turn around and go back to the house so I could change. I can’t decide if I am more annoyed about my dress or the lipstick that I had just bought. Bright lipsticks are so hot for Summer, but now I’m wondering if I should just wear lip gloss, but bright lip gloss always seems to bleed on me and not stay put. I’m thinking about ditching the trend, and going back to my nude gloss. What do you suggest?
Thanks,
Perplexed Pout
IcyBag
Dear Perplexed Pout,
As for going back to nude gloss, I think if you want bright lips you should figure out a way to make it work, and not give up on them. I have been wearing brighter lipstick this season myself, and am thinking that once a woman gets to a certain age a lipstick with color does look better than a nude gloss. I wrote recently about my thoughts on style as a woman approaches age forty, as it’s been on my mind. I’m so sorry about your lipstick disaster. I have had the same thing happen to me many times over the years, and you’re right it typically happens in the summer when the lipstick isn’t necessarily melted but the structure has been weakened by the heat. I don’t know how much trouble you want to go to, but there is a product called the IcyBag that is an insulated cosmetic bag that comes with a freezable gel pack. This seems like it might be great to use at the beach, but I can’t see many of us wanting to add the ritual of freezing the gel pack every night to our busy schedules.
If you do manage to somehow save the broken lipstick when it breaks, which is no
small feat, you can melt it down and salvage it. There is a great kit by Japonesque which comes with a melting cup and a lip palette case that you can fill with your broken lipsticks. This would also be smart to do with “empty lipsticks”. My mother has always told me that there is as much lipstick inside the tube as on the outside, and encourages me not waste it, and instead use a lip brush. My friend Erica has been rescuing broken or empty lipsticks and melting them in the microwave for years to create her own custom colors. I’ve never tried it, but it seems like a smart thing to do. Unlike toothpaste, you really can get lipstick back in the tube! If you salvage the broken tip of lipstick, you can gently warm it or it may still be warm if it was melty from the hot weather, put it back in the tube, and freeze it to make it adhere to the lipstick already in the tube.
I found this cute piece on what the shape you give your lipsticks says about your personality. I know my friends and I leave our own signature shape on our lipsticks. My lipsticks tend to be Sharp Angled Box Curved Tip. I think they pretty much nailed my personality. So take a look and see what your lipstick shape says about you!
- Miss A
