The Three Lipstick Approach to Makeup

My friend, C Masta J, used to be a business major. He told me that whenever someone comes up with a good way to do something in the business world, they call it an approach, a method, or a concept (among other things). Then they'd use one of these words in conjunction with whatever was used to develop whatever it was they were developing to ultimately name the method, approach, or concept. This annoyed C Mastah J to no end, because they were usually stupid names. The only one I can remember right now is the "Yellow Sticky Approach" to business workplan development. This was his favorite one to hate.

Anyway, that's how I came up with "The Three Lipstick Approach to Makeup." Because my approach to makeup involves using three lipsticks. This is not something that requires a name any better than that.

C-Whore wanted to buy some makeup while we were in Pittsburgh to visit Patlick, because she says makeup is a whole ton cheaper in the U.S. than in Germany. Because C-Whore and I don't wear much lipstick, C-Whore had to have Patlick there as a makeup consultant. (Usually the only time I wear makeup is when I'm in a play, and I just use the makeup kits that the costumer gives me, so I wasn't really any help to C-Whore.)

We went to two places looking for cheap makeup (well, cheaper than you can find in a department store.) We ended up going to a CVS drugstore and K-Mart. We originally only planned on going to K-Mart, but the day after we went there we saw a circular in the newspaper saying that makeup was buy one get one free at CVS, so of course we had to go there too.

I, who almost never wear makeup outside of the theatre, ended up buying two lipsticks and a compact of cream eyeshadow with four shades (purples and browns). I don't remember what C-Whore bought, but I know it was just as much as me, if not more.

Now, anyone who has bought lipstick outside of a department store will know that you can't try on shades in the store. You have to buy them, try them on at home, and if they don't look as good as you thought they would, you throw them in your "ugly makeup drawer." Patlick had a mug of sort-of-okay lipsticks sitting on her makeup table. I had two lipsticks to start my own mug.

One shade was way too brown, the other one was way too red. They looked okay...the red one would be great for an evening look, but not great and definitely nothing I'd wear to work. So I went home a little bummed out that I spent [censored] dollars on two lipsticks that I probably wouldn't wear.

So I told my mom about my lipstick fiasco (it wasn't really a fiasco, because they didn't look that bad, but they weren't what I expected, that's for sure) while we were in a department store to buy makeup for her. Before I knew it, I was in a chair getting a free makeover. That's always fun, because you get to get made up for free. If any girls out there haven't done it, at least do it once. Anyway, I shouldn't have done it, because I ended up buying foundation that I don't use and more lipstick that looked really pink. It looked fine with all the eyeshadow and blush, but by itself it looked really pink and I didn't buy the eyeshadow or blush. So then I had three lipsticks that I wasn't extremely ecstatic about.

Well, the weekend after we went to the department store, I was horsing around with my makeup, trying to recreate the way I looked in the store using my new eyeshadow and lipsticks. As I blended the eyeshadow with my finger, I tried to decide which lipstick would look best with it.

I put on the brown lipstick, it was too brown. So I put the red on top of it. Then I figured, why not, I'll just put on all three. The pink went on last, and it looked pretty good! Not wonderful, but better than they were by themselves. So I started to experiment. I took off all the lipstick, then put on the red first, then the pink, then the brown. It looked too brown. That's decided, the brown is too heavy to go on top of the other two lipsticks, so now that usually goes on first when I use the "approach."

Next I tried the brown, then the pink then the red. A little too red; I decided that the best combination was the first one I tried. Now, how to make it perfect...I started from scratch again. My lips were getting a little dry by then, so I put on lip gloss to make it easier to glide the lipstick on. I put the brown on the bottom, but lighter this time. Then I put the red over it, and then the pink, but I didn't put the pink all the way to the top and bottom edges of my lips, so I kind of had a lip liner without actually lining my lips. That looked the best, especially for a daytime look, so now I put my lipstick on like that most of the time.

Sometimes I switch it up and put the pink on first, then the red (yes, that actually makes a difference in the shade) or I'll put the red on first, then the brown on very lightly, with the pink on top. If it doesn't look the way I want it to (and the way I want it to look changes with my mood and fancy) I can always add more or take some off.

So girls (or guys, I guess) If you have lipstick that looks kinda okay, blend them with other kinds and put on gloss first to make it easier to apply. I think it's best with a brown, a pink/purple, and a red shade but maybe that's because those are the only lipsticks I have. I'm sure this is old news to a lot of people (or it's just plain common sense), but it's new to me, so I'm sharing with the world.

*Please remember that I'm a makeup amateur, and if you see me and my lipstick looks horrible, please please please let me know.