Home > Buenos Diaz > She's Not Born With It, It's NYX

She's Not Born With It, It's NYX

By Gloria Diaz

Check out Gloria's Blog — Edge of Gloria!

Fort Wayne Reader

2016-04-21

After years of searching, I finally found red lipstick that works on me. I was always jealous of the women in the magazines and their red lipstick. It’s sort of like the search for heels that I can wear.

So, the lipstick. It’s pretty cool when I’ve got my shades on and the red lipstick going. It’s weird, but there’s just something about the color that is an attention grabber. Thanks to comments on a Buzzfeed article, one color recommendation stuck out in my mind. It took a while, but I was wandering around in Ulta (so, so dangerous) and decided to look for lipstick. At the NYX display (my new favorite makeup line) I looked at various colors, and remembered THE color one commenter suggested. Snow White. I found it and knew immediately I’d FOUND IT. I bought it and put it on in the car and POW!

Because I’m never satisfied, I wanted to find the same shade in a matte finish. So, I went back through the display. NYX has a matte lipstick line, so I bent over and looked through the shades. Huh—here’s one. Alabama. We’ll give that a shot. I bought it and put it on in the car and POW!
I’m very happy that I’ve found the right reds for me. But red lipstick, like red paint, is tricky. The color isn’t really natural on human lips. So, you have to be careful about applying it. Getting lines straight is important, since the color isn’t subtle. A goof up will be screamingly obvious.

Then, in order to not get it on your teeth, you stick your finger in your mouth, suck on it, then pull it out. Why? Because this will help prevent getting lipstick on your teeth. I do this, but I still worry that it’s going to happen.

Anxiety is a small price to pay for the reactions I get. Whenever I wear red lipstick, people notice. They say I look nice. They comment on my glasses, which I’ve had for two years now. “Did you just start wearing them?” “Uh, no,” I say. It’s bizarre. How can something simple like a lipstick be so life-changing? Yet it is.

And that’s why I think makeup is so addicting. When we’re kids, we discover paper and the joys of drawing. Young women discover a canvas that they wear every single day. It’s their faces, and there are so many things to make facial features look bigger, brighter or more interesting.

I hung out with a guy who was a feminist many years ago. He couldn’t understand why women wore makeup, or did their hair, or shaved their legs. I couldn’t understand why he only had one pair of shoes, which were hiking boots. So, we made an agreement—if he bought a second pair of shoes, I wouldn’t shave my legs. However, my legs remained hairless. It’s all about Nair. I kept my word, and my smooth legs. Maybe I wouldn’t have been sensitive about this if an elementary school classmate hadn’t teased me about my “hairy spider legs.” Funnily enough, this classmate seemed like she would be down with the whole not shaving legs thing. She was athletic and good at math and seemed very boyish.

Sure, I didn’t have to shave my legs, or do my hair or wear makeup. But because guys don’t get it, and probably never will, there’s a certain empowerment with grooming. It would be a great world if I could wear my triple extra-large sleep shirts and sweatpants out in public and not worry about hair or makeup and have people treat me nicely, but they won’t. Until men are rendered completely blind, women are going to be concerned about their appearance. More and more though, women are looking good for themselves—if the guys enjoy it, fine. I wear my red lipstick because people treat me a little better. It’s weird. I don’t understand it, but whatever.
There are worse addictions. NYX has great stuff at a great price, and I’m a huge fan. Heroin is expensive. Crack is horrible. And don’t get me started on Urban Decay, Smashbox, Too Faced, Stila and It cosmetics. They won’t kill you, but they will kill your pocketbook—and keep you wanting more.