My Lipstick Movie Moment

Have you ever had one of those moments where something happens to you and you think, If I were in a movie, this is the part where background music would play. I have lots of those moments in my life. I'm a big movie buff, and I tend to dabble on the dramatic side. Here's a movie moment that coincided with my favorite new lipstick technique. Stay with me.

Every girl has a tube of lipstick, right? You may not wear it everyday, but you at least have one for special occasions. Check your lipstick. What color do you have? Now I have more than one tube of lipstick, but my go-to color is pink. I have many versions of pink lipstick; bright pink, light pink, pale pink, dark pink, the list goes on. Often when I'm looking for new lipstick I think, I need a new color, and I proceed to look at the same old pinks. Probably because aside from pink and nude, I don't know how to wear other colors. Peach and orange can be tricky to wear depending on your skin tone, and while I love purple, I have never had the courage to wear it.

Until a few weeks ago.

Once again I was strutting through Macy's (not a movie music moment) and I stopped at the MAC counter (the lights, colors and fabulousness of it all sucks me in, every time).  On this day, I stood in front of the lipstick display, wanting something different and testing at least 12 colors on my hand. All of which were pink.

Another MAC angel with beautiful, shimmery, high cheek bones approached me. His name was Zac. I told him I wanted a different lipstick. He suggested two colors that I already had (pink). But there, in the middle of all of those tubes of colors, was this lovely, lavender. It was entirely too bright, almost doll-like, the kind Barbie would wear, and not suitable for everyday. The kind I never had the guts to try. Its name was Up the Amp, and the irony was not lost on me. I had to try it. Zac took it out, cleaned it off and encouraged me to put it on. So I did what every normal girl would do, I swiped it heavily on both my lips. It looked like this:

(Disclaimer: Lips really are as large as they appear and taking pictures of your lips is hard. Capturing the correct color of the lipstick with bad lighting is harder. So while you may not see a big difference, trust me and trust Zac, in person, there is.)

Zac rolled his eyes at me and said, "Let's get a lip liner."

Here we go with the up-sell, I thought. He's gonna get me lip liner and a gloss (I hate lip gloss) and encourage me to buy all three.

"Wipe that off, " he said, handing me a moist towelette. In his hands he had - what did I tell you - not just a lip liner, but a gloss as well. He proceeded to line and color in my entire top lip with the liner, called Plum, which was darker than the lip stick. Then he lined just the sides of my bottom lip. Just the sides? Not the whole lip? I was confused. "Trust me," he said.

He handed me the lipstick and instructed me to gently pat the color only on my lower lip, no swiping, and rub my lips together. In my head I was like, huh? but I did as I was told. He then handed me this shimmery, pinky gloss, called Nymphette.

"This is my favorite gloss ever," he told me. "Now dab a little bit of this on your lower lip and just press your lips together once."

I obliged.

"GORGEOUS!" was his response. It looked like this:

I was amazed. I never would have put these colors together, never would have lined my lips they way he instructed, never would have worn the gloss. It was subtle, beautiful, and not pink.

"OK," I sighed. "I'll take all three."

Sucker, my inner-Deanna said.

After I left MAC with my gorgeous, new purple lips, I went to Sephora, MAC's arch nemesis, for some facial wash. As I was leaving the store, one of their makeup experts was standing at the makeup vanity in the front of the store. As I passed her, she said, "Your lipstick looks gorgeous."

I thanked her and tossed my head back, laughing as I walked out.

Que the music.



Do you have any lipstick tricks like this? Share your tips below or try this technique and let me know how it works for you!

Also, CLICK HERE for another awesome lip liner/gloss trick from my favorite blog, Makeup Geek!