Wet 'n Wild - The Seventh Sphinx

Women fond of dress are hardly ever entirely satisfied not to be

seen, except among the insane; usually they want witnesses.

– Simone de Beauvoir

These rounded cat eye sunglasses put me in a retro mood.

I searched for a boyshort maillot for ages before I found this one by Seafolly, which has just the silhouette I was looking for, though a bit dull in the back. Despite the forgiving ruching and full (for swimwear) coverage, it still manages not to leave much to the imagination.

Sometimes I can really get behind a halter, which has, in ideal circumstances, a symbiotic relationship with the shoulders, each strengthening the other.

History shows that I consistently go for this kind of drab olive color.

Boyleg maillot from Seafolly (thrifted), sun hat from San Diego Hat Co., Vuarnet sunglasses* (thrifted), 8-9mm pearl studs from Pearls of Joy, Nieman Marcus beach tote (gwp), 8-strand pearl bracelet (eBay), on the lips: Wet ‘n Wild Megalast lipstick in Purty Persimmon (swatched here).

*I’ve been looking for sunglasses with glass lenses, and found the price and style range I was looking for in the French brand Vuarnet. They have a selection of lenses designed for different lighting situations, which high-performance lenses provide protection while allowing great clarity and visibility. The only strange thing about them is the cheapness of the plastic used for the frames given how expensive the lenses are. And the weight can drag them down your nose.

Hugh Laurie wrote a comic novel! It’s quite funny, I suppose in just the way you would expect. I would have read it on the virtue of his uber-appealing salt & pepper stubble alone. Hugh Laurie, is there anything you cannot do?

[My beach towel has penguins on it. I got it when I was 9.]

Orange lips are often considered difficult or unfriendly (even more so than red lips I would say) but I love them, and have amassed a number of options in my search for an orange–or an orange-coral, or an orange-red–that would be great on me. Orange lips have the bold effect that red lips have but are even more uncommon, I think, making them still more arresting and interesting. And they are even brighter. Yeah they can make your teeth look darker or more yellow…but teeth shouldn’t look too white, anyway. It’s creepy. My teeth are a nice normal color and this aspect doesn’t bother me at all.

Kate Moss Rimmel lipstick in 12, Lancome Rouge in Love lipstick in 146 Miss Coquelicot, Revlon lipstick in Siren, Wet ‘n Wild MegaLast lipstick in Purty Persimmon, Tom Ford lipstick in Wild Ginger

While I do like coral in the pink-peach sense, I find that abstractly (without any outfit or look in mind) I easily prefer all of the more orange-based colors here to those in the previous post. My favorite reds tend to be orange-toned reds, too. Ditto blushes. I just gravitate toward orange when it comes to colors under consideration for the face.

These all look great with the colors I like to wear best: cream, olive, khaki, camel, white, navy, all types of brown…

The favorites of the favorites here are

1) the Lancome Rouge in Love in Miss Coquelicot, the texture of which is super smooth and more sheer than the rest here, the color of which is a divine orange-based coral,

2) the Revlon lipstick in Siren, one of their retro shades that has been available, on and off, since the 50s, which might be my favorite true orange that is still very flattering and wearable, and of course

3) the Tom Ford Wild Ginger (for $2 the Wet ‘n Wild isn’t a bad budget pseudo-dupe of this), the texture and color of which are gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. I would say this tips over into red-orange rather than orange-red but the appeal is the same, and the bright, shouty, tomato-lip effect is the same.

Lipsticks notably absent here but on my wishlist are NARS heatwave and MAC Lady Danger. It is only a matter of time.

It’s difficult to be truly in control of a bold lip, and it’s helpful to develop a kind of zen attitude about it. Accept that it will require either maintenance or insouciance, or maybe a bit of both. The first rule of lipstick is: lipstick cannot be trusted. I say it is best to try not to worry about things too much and simply go for it.

I was inspired in college by a friend who would wear red lipstick all the time and just flagrantly leave red lip prints on every glass, and not care if it got on her teeth. I, at the time, rarely wore it, and would carefully wipe the rim of the glass off if I did. [I have these prudish instincts paired oddly with bold tastes.] Yes it can get on your teeth and your clothes and other people, yes things can go awry, but isn’t it worth it, in the end? Isn’t that why we’re all here, reading about lipstick, because we want the option anyway? Because we see these vibrant colors, with all their inconveniences, and think, yes: that is the color for me.

And that!

And ooOOOoo. Also that.

You can see my coral picks in vol. i, here.

Tag: Wet ‘n Wild

the retro maillot

a few favorite summer lip colors, vol. ii: orange