Lipstick

Original advertisement for Cherries in the Snow with model Dorien Leigh

"What do you write?"   Oh, God, here it comes, I'm so out of my league.....gulp .

"Essays and Opinions" I quietly reply

"Great!  I can help you with that.  It's nice to meet you and..... I love that you are wearing bright red lipstick". 

In an instant, all my trepidation about being a participant in a well-respected writers workshop disappeared. My fear was replaced with an air of quiet confidence, my identity was safe and my place in this class was my birthright. Total relief.

 Lipstick. "It's Revlon, Cherries in the Snow".  That being acknowledged,  she came back with "Revlon, Love That Red," Followed by " Fire and Ice" from another other woman, my classmate seated next to me. Oh, yeah. Women have the need to bond and we were off and running in no time at all.

I have worn Cherries in the Snow for many years. It is what I consider to be my trademark color and I have claimed it as my very own since the day I asked a business associate, one whom I thought to be a beautiful woman, what color lipstick she was wearing.  She hardly got the words our before I was downstairs in Duane Read buying my first tube and I have kept myself supplied ever since.  It's iconic, a shade that Revlon introduced in 1953.  It was part of a whole new fashion statement for the company. One of the two founding fathers of Revlon, Charles Revson, in his wisdom, decided that women should match their nail color to their lipstick color and, well the rest is history.  

Lipstick. Revlon Cherries in the Snow,  I love you, you love me.  My husband loves you. My friends who love you have asked, and I have given away, with true love, the name and the number, 440. My friend Jay is scared to death of you and I've even caught him doing an immediate wipe off after a good-bye smooch.  I totally understand.  My kids are not crazy about you either and they grew up loathing those tell-tale signs on glasses and cups, always knowing which one Mom had used. It's one of the downsides to my personal fashion statement. The upside comes in the form of the touch of a little girl's finger as it glides across my freshly-colored lips and, having gotten sufficiently coated, returns to her own lips and I see my mark, borne on another generation of women. Ah, you lovely little cherries in your snow, my granddaughters love you too.