I have to admit to never having liked Chapstick or any lip balm for that matter. I wasn’t sure why, but I always felt like it made my lips more chapped and they peeled more and not less. In fact, it seemed that if I started to use lip balm, I couldn’t stop because the problem would increase ten-fold and my lips would come off in chunks.

Just for fun I decided to look around the net and I was surprised to find so many people who had the same experience as I did. In fact, there are websites devoted to lip balm addiction. There are people out there who are unable to go from one room to the next without being assured of finding a lip balm to reapply constantly.

I discovered that some medicated lip balms have ingredients that actually exfoliate, that is, peel the lips. So these do, in fact, make the problem worse. But even lip balms that don’t contain these ingredients seem to have a hold on people who use them.

I thought then about my own use of lipstick and I do apply lipstick sometimes just because my lips are dry. However, with lipstick I don’t have the urge to constantly reapply, I can go entire days without wearing any and I don’t find my lips get dependent on it.

The majority of physicians and dermatologists state that lip balms can be psychologically addicting only, but in my limited experience, and it seems the experience of many others, lip balm is a highly addictive substance that requires constant reapplication to avoid it worsening the problem you used it to alleviate.

Red lipstick is classic but many women are afraid to wear a bold red on their lips for fear they will look too made-up or worse, clownish. But everyone can wear red, if they choose the right color for their skin tone. True reds, like a fire-engine red, are fine for those with pink undertones in their skin while those with golden or yellow undertones should choose reds from the coral range.

When wearing a bright red lipstick, keep other make-up minimal. Your eyes and cheeks should not compete when lips take main stage. You can use a clear lip liner to keep the color from bleeding.

Favorite reds for lips:

Revlon Colorstay Soft & Smooth Lipcolor - Red Velvet

L’Oreal Colour Riche - British Red

Covergirl Outlast Smoothwear Lipcolor - Red Satin

The history of lipstick is one of varying degrees of popularity over the last 5000 years. The first recorded use of lipstick was by Queen Shub-ad of ancient UR, about 3500 BC. Lipstick gained favor in ancient Egypt, but was made of some suspicious substances, a few of which could be poisonous. Always ahead of the times, the ancient Egyptians viewed all makeup as being more indicative of status than gender and so both men and women might use lipstick. Lipstick in ancient times was made of ochre, crushed red rocks, and even lead.

Elizabeth I of England made lipstick popular with her devotion to it but also believed it contained magical powers to heal. After her death, the church saw danger in this magical connection. The wearing of lipstick eventually came to be viewed as attempts by women to bewitch men with false beauty. In the American colonies they were more wont to follow the example of the French who indulged in all forms of lip rouge and makeup. But in the 1800s, when Queen Victoria declared makeup to be “impolite”, it caused lipstick to again fall to the domain of actresses and prostitutes.

In turn of the century America, suffragettes began to wear lipstick as a symbol of the new female emancipation. In the 20s, young women increasingly wore lipstick as they threw off what they considered to be stuffy ideas of the past. By the heyday of Hollywood in the 1940s, the use of lipstick and other makeup by starlets solidified lipstick’s image as desirable in the American woman’s mind. Today, wearing lipstick is as routine for most women as wearing deodorant. Some may wear lipstick only when they are going out in the evening but the majority of women wear it every day. Today’s woman considers lipstick an essential part of “putting on her face”; in fact, many women refuse to be seen without it.

Almay makes perfect lips as easy as 1-2-3 with their coordinated sets of lipliner, lipcolor and lipgloss. There’s no guesswork about which shades to use and you can use all three products for color and shine. To make it easier, they are expertly coordinated by color groups: Neutrals, Pinks, Berries and Reds.

Almay Ideal Lipliner contains aloe and vitamin E so you know it is moisturizing. They recommend that after lining you fill in the entire lip to extend the wear of your lip color. Follow it up with Amay Ideal Lipcolor in a coordinating shade or choose the Almay Ideal Lipgloss for added shine. Use both with the lip gloss as your shiny topcoat for extra long-lasting color and a complete look. Easy as 1-2-3.