Beauty,  Celebrity Stylists,  Editorial,  NARS,  New York Fashion Week,  Pat McGrath,  Red Lips

Dedicated to The Cut: How to Get Lips Like a Black Girl…or at Least Like This Black Girl

I don’t read too many beauty or fashion blogs—I dare not let my creative grey matter get muddled by those who opine on significant matters, like which green eyeshadow best fits-the-bill for Pantone Color of the Year. (That’s emerald green, BTW.) While it’s probably the blogger-correct thing to do, I’m not doing it.  At the end of the day, I must be authentic to moi, my voice.  One exception to this rule, however—I read The Cut daily. I. Love. The. Cut.

The Cut Lips like a French Girl from nymag:thecut.comI long to write irreverent articles again.  Short, stinging, double entendre-tinged stories that my readers love or hate.  Wielding backhanded compliments disguised as my expert analysis of the latest beauty booty is a high I haven’t reached in some time.  (By the same token, making light of Nicki Minaj’s booty is mighty fun too.  Or Kim’s.)  That’s the stuff that gets my motor running.  But I am trying to avoid spewing vitriol as I did in a previous blogger life, and stay as close to vanilla milk chocolate as possible.  And, frankly, it’s killing my spirit, my joie de vivre.

So, when I read this juicy tidbit from The Cut, How to Get Lips Like a French Girl,” I thought, hmmmm.   Why do I want lips like a French girl? What do French girl lips look like? Do you French kiss better with lips like a French girl? Or perhaps you won’t slurp your Chateau Leoville Las Cases Saint Julien Deuxieme Grand Cru Classe 2007 when you have French girl lips.  Do men like women with French girl lips better than say, women with Egyptian girl lips?  If I kissed a girl with French girl lips, would I like it?

The model (photo to the left) accompanying this groundbreaking, lip-smacking news looks like every other blond-haired, ponytail-wearing White girl I see, with the exception that her lips are dressed in barely visible pink lipstick. No doubt due to some advanced makeup artist technique like dabbing the lipstick on with a fingertip for that subtly bitten look, or applying lipstick and then blotting until there is only a vestige of color left.  You know, those makeup tricks we laypeople never, ever think of employing.

Now, the part of the story that I cannot take to task is the mention of master makeup artist, Pat McGrath.  I love Pat.  She validated my addiction, yes, my obsession,  to cosmetics.  My interview with Pat is a must-read. So click here and read it. 

Tracey at Tracy Reese Fall Fashion Week 2012 New York

Back to French Girl lips… Apparently, the key to this hot-off-the press nouveau-chic lip look is, guess what?  A little-dab-will-do-ya of lip balm! Mon Dieu!  Imagine that.  My favorite weekend-wear lippy is the chicest choice in lips for girls in France.  Whoa.  I’m setting trends here in the U.S. and didn’t even realize it.  As a matter of fact, my scheduled post for today was all about, drumroll please…Best Budget Friendly Lip Balms.  I’m #trending so #French.

I happened to be in New York for Fashion Week a couple weeks ago, running from show to show, as were those girls from The Cut who were lusting after where-are-they pink lips at Fall Fashion Week 2013 in Paris.  Major point of difference: this Black girl was working red lips.  I did cheat with an  occasional flirtation of a passionate pink pout, but my loyalty was with the crimson tide. From street style to backstage beauty, I was seeing red.  Most popular red?  M.A.C Ruby Woo. (I acquired this bit of intel by stealthily asking every woman wearing red lipstick, “What red is that?”) Black girls, White girls, Asian girls, Latina girls—we were all rocking the red lip.  Dressed up or down, the punctuation to an au currant lip look was red lipstick.

To set the record straight, the way to get lips like this Black girl is to invest in a robust red—lipstick, my fellow oenophiles, not wine.  My red lip for Fall Fashion Week 2013 was NARS Matte Velvet Lip Pencil in Dragon Girl. Like?

Tracey wearing NARS Dragon Girl Matte Velvet Pencil

While I suppose some poor, mislead, jeune fille is desperately trying to emulate pink, barely-there French girl lips, I will keep these cabernet-stained Black girl lips with a side of French roast, drenched in French kisses.

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