Thursday, February 26, 2015

White Teeth and Red Lipstick

Fair Warning: This post is full of photos of a 60-something's face! Proceed only if you are capable of handling closeups of wrinkles and pores and age spots and all sorts of real-life stuff you won't see in a fashion magazine.

But I'm not a model nor a celebrity; I'm just me, a gal who has kissed the 50s goodbye and is romping through the 60s. Recently I had my teeth whitened--for the first time ever--using bleach trays at night for a month. The results were amazing! Here my dentist is holding up a sample of the color my teeth used to be:


Wow! What a difference! I celebrated by going out and getting some new red lipsticks:


Three out of the four of these Revlon shades have been around since the Dawn of Time. Kinda like me. I figured if they've lasted that long, they must be good. The fourth, "Softsilver Red," was new to me, but I liked the shade--and anything with "silver" in it gets my vote.

In the photo below, they are (from the top, proceeding clockwise): "Fire & Ice," "Softsilver Red," "Cherries in the Snow," and "Love That Red":


This is Softsilver Red:


It looks more like a pink, once applied. I like it, but I'm after a more full-on red:


Next up, "Fire & Ice":


Yeah, that's what I'm talking' 'bout. But a lip color this strong is definitely going to need to be worn with a lip pencil underneath, or it'll go skittering all over my 60-something lips:


The sound of the crinkling plastic as I unwrapped the lipsticks attracted Mu Shu's attention. Nope, not a treat, Mu; sorry!


This is "Love That Red." It's quite similar to "Fire & Ice," but maybe a degree more blue, less orange:


Well, I like it, too. But the lip pencil situation remains. If I wear one of these super-red shades, I'm going to have to spring for a matching pencil:


Last up, "Cherries in the Snow." It skews toward fuchsia, farther away from a true red:


I like it, too!


All that taking off and re-applying of lipstick could not happen without my favorite makeup remover by Estée Lauder (or "Empty Larder," as my old boyfriend used to call it, because it is so pricey):


To rehydrate my lips and the surrounding skin between scrub downs, a teeny dab of Argan Oil did wonders. I got this from Whole Foods. It's great stuff:


Four shades of lipstick later, this is what my testing site looked like.


Which lip color did I pick? I don't know; I might keep them all.

Heaven bless drug-store lipsticks--one of the best ways for a woman to splurge on a new look for very little money.

And Heaven bless my dentist, for pulling off a Cinderella on my teeth:


 Remarkable!



4 comments:

  1. Remarkable, indeed! i never had such dramatic results with my dentist’s “whitening in a tray” program; but, then, I never did it for an entire month because of gum sensitivity…your results certainly makes me want to try again! My favorite lipstick colors are the first two…Lookin’ good, Sis! Note: For anyone interested in buying drugstore brands the don’t do those awful tests on animals (sadly, Revlon and Estee Lauder are guilty in this regard), you can find them at CVS, and probably Walgreens: NYX, Wet and Wild, Physicians Formula, and Salma Hayek’s Nuance (also love her eyeliner pencil -- more staying power than most, but not as heavy looking as a gel). Here’s to aging gracefully!

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  2. Not to worry, Sis -- For a long time I was buying Revlon products because I was told they were animal friendly, but further research proved it was wrong. It can be tricky because a company may claim they are animal friendly, but with disclaimer “unless required by law”, which is the case in countries such as China (where a lot of our USA products go). Another loophole is that a company may not test their products on animals but their parent company does -- which means that by buying the animal friendly product a consumer ends up generating $ for a company that does test on animals.
    PETA’s website has a frequently updated list of companies that test, and companies that don’t test -- and they even have a “bunny app” to put on one’s phone so one can check on a brand anytime (handy when shopping), as well a wallet-size printed handout they’ll mail for free. One can navigate PETA’s website fairly easily without running into disturbing photos -- just search for “companies that do test on animals” and “companies that don’t test on animals”. Hope this helps? xoxo

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  3. Hi there! Nice stuff, do keep me posted when you post again something like this! Γναθοχειρουργός

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