Robin Black Has Serious History With This Red Lipstick
The renowned makeup artist shares the story behind her “crimson little secret.”
“Red is the great clarifier, bright and revealing. I can't imagine becoming bored with red, it would be like becoming bored with the person you love.” —Diana Vreeland
“Red is associated with passion because it is the color of fire. Those who take this seriously need to be reminded there is such a thing as arson.” ―Fran Lebowitz
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It was 1994: I stubbed out my cigarette (a newly acquired and very short-lived habit) before sauntering into Barneys. Usually, I just wandered around, admiring all the avant-garde fashion that I couldn’t possibly afford. But on that particular day, I was on a mission—the kind of mission that feels extra important when you are only 19 and just arrived in New York.
And then I saw it. Sitting on the counter was a small black display with 12 glorious bullets of color in rectangular black tubes. It looked powerful and modern, different from all the ladylike, classic packaging that ruled the upscale cosmetic departments in those years. I had seen it in Linda Wells’s Allure Magazine ("the bible," as the beauty-savvy referred to it,) but it looked even more delicious in person.
“One tube of the NARS Jungle Red please,” I said to the sales woman.
“Would you like to try it on first?” she replied.
“No. It’s the right red for me.” I said, imagining that I sounded like the type of sophisticate who had loads of luxurious red lipsticks tossed on her vanity in the Upper East Side. (Never mind that I was, in fact, subletting a room in a tenement building in the Bowery that didn’t even have a proper mirror.)
From behind the counter, the associate smiled at my bare-faced, wildly unjustified, youthful confidence—but she kindly made a big fuss over wrapping my treasure in tissue before placing it carefully inside the coveted Barneys bag. I couldn’t resist browsing slowly through the rest of the store, bag casually swinging from my arm, proud that I had just bought THE statement lip of my dreams. Even if it did mean skipping a few meals to fit into my very limited budget.
This might sound like a trite little tale about a young woman who was searching for a visual way to express her newly found adulthood, and it is. But it's also true that the perfect shade of red lipstick can change your life.
Thirty years later, I still saunter but I don't smoke, and my passion for a statement red lip remains. NARS Jungle Red is my go-to anytime I want to feel fabulous, or command attention in a meeting, or need a little boost of motivation, if I'm hiding a horrible case of jet lag, or sometimes it's a bit of armor for the days I feel sad or angry. Over the years, I've moved from red to red, and I can identify what year of my life it was by which brand/shade I was wearing at the time. (For those of you who are curious, I've been absolutely hooked on the Sisley Paris Phyto-Twist Matte in #18 for ages.) But NARS stands out as a forever favorite, and I’m happy to share my crimson little secret with you all.