Weekend Beauty: Finding the perfect pink lipstick

By Donna I seem to have a curse – every time I find THE perfect pink lipstick, it goes away. Cosmetic companies must have spying devices planted in my house so they can whisk it off the shelves as soon as I run out of my last tube of The One – not too pale or chalky, just a wearable medium pink in the neutral to slightly blue range. Of course it’s not just the color either; it must have a moisturizing formula, a creamy texture, a pleasing aroma, and not be frosted or glittery. It’s surprising how hard it can be to find exactly the right one, at any price point. The first time it happened was with Frances Denney Pink Clover –this was over 25 years ago and it still stings! The store I had been buying it from stopped carrying the brand. It’s only available online now; it used to be at JC Penney and other mid-range department stores. A creamy bluish-pink exactly the color of clover blossoms, it was my favorite for a long time. The company doesn’t make anything even close to it now. Some time later, I struck gold, or rather pink again with Lancôme’s Freesia. Very similar in color to the Denney product, it was more moisturizing and was also in the now sadly departed grape seed oil formula, making it smell delicious. Lancôme lipsticks now smell just okay, but they used to be downright enticing. I was able to console myself with another Lancôme shortly thereafter in the form of Champagne, a matte pink with a touch of watermelon in it. One day I stopped by to get a new tube and you guessed it, it was gone. Oddly, there was still a lipstick called Champagne, but in a totally different formula, quite a bit darker, and with a bit of frost, so it was not really a replacement. I am a very pale pink person, and as I get older I tend to shy away from darker shades on the lips, especially if they veer into the brown range, since they look unnatural on me. Neutral to blue-reds I can do, mauves and roses yes, but I always come back to basic pinks for daily wear. I found one I loved at the Ulta store, one of their house brand shades of Sheer formula lipstick called Angelfood – do you think I could find it again when it was down to a nub? I think you know the answer. The Sheer lipstick in Pink Lemonade is close, but a little too light for some situations. The Sheer Mixed Berry is lovely and I got one, but it’s a raspberry pink, not a basic “neutral” pink. Do I dare say I have just found another one I love and that it’s a Lancôme? Oh yes, I have. It was in a giveaway, which is normally a hit or miss experience, but this time I got a perfect fit. It is in the Color Design formula in The New Pink, and it’s a medium pink with just a hint of a watermelon/hibiscus tone, and the finish is called Sheen – not frost, not shine, but a subtle gleam. It’s one of those great like-your-own-lips-but-better shades that virtually anyone can wear, and it glides on smoothly and wears well. So how many tubes/cases/truckloads of it should I get? Image source, Lipstick swoosh from Cosmopolitan.com