DORÉ

A little note on lipstick and life from our beauty contributor, Sarah Tarca…

Some people’s lives are punctuated by epic songs or great romantic loves, but mine? Mine is all about the lipsticks I’ve loved before.

My first was a grape Lipsmacker that tinted my lips a slightly hypothermic shade of purple – which naturally I thought was the height of cool. Until, of course, I ditched it for a “sexier” model of matt clay brown, an Avon number that went perfectly with my newfound love of grunge.

Later, Cher Horowitz taught me it was all about gloss, marking the beginning of the “lacquer years” and peaking with a solid 18-months married to the powerfully sticky, glass-like gloss of the artist formerly known as Poppy Shine (aka: the Lipstick Queen).

And then I became a Beauty Editor, and my obsession turned rehab-serious. All the lip products! All free! All needing to be tested! Well, if I had to.

It was here I discovered a few key things: Beauty Editors have a lot of photos taken; the secret to me not hating said photos was to wear a bright lip; and that although I desperately wanted to be understated, chic and pared back like other Beauty Ed’s, frankly I’d never been any of those things so it was time embrace my inner drag queen and roll with it.

And so, I hoarded MAC’s Amplified range, using “Show Orchid” and “Impassioned” (both in-your-face pinks) down to the stump. I tried purple again (no, I never learn), flirted with a plum and had at least two electric oranges on rotation. And of course I also have a red lipstick wardrobe. Subtlety is not my thing.

And suddenly I was in my 30s. This was when people were supposed to pare down their makeup – right? Age gracefully and all that? Hahahahaha. Nope. I’ve never prescribed to those rules because beauty for me has always been about how I feel. A true red will always make me feel like a rock star, even when I’m repping more of a “long-time roadie” look. For low-key times I go a light pink, because I’ve never found a nude that works for me (and to be honest, I’m still a little traumatised by the clay brown era). Impassioned still gets a look in when I need some pep, and on the days I can’t be bothered I use my long-time love, Lanolips in Rhubarb. And I do it because it makes me feel good. I don’t care if my boyfriend hates it, or if people think my choices are wack, because this relationship is a gloriously and unapologetically selfish one that’s all about me and my joy. Which, in my opinion, makes it a pretty damn good one.