The Family Groove | Natural Beauty | Inspirational Beauty Coach and Author Shelly Ballestero Tells You How to Get Gorgeous Inside and Out

NATURAL BEAUTY

INSPIRATIONAL BEAUTY COACH AND AUTHOR SHELLY BALLESTERO TELLS YOU HOW TO GET GORGEOUS INSIDE AND OUT

LIP SERVICE

Lipstick has been around for thousands of years, dating back to ancient Babylon days. Way back when, semi-precious jewels were crushed and applied to the lips and occasionally around the eyes. Cleopatra had her lipstick made from carmine beetles, which gave a deep pigment, and ants for base (okay—the ant base is where I draw the line). So basically, women have been trying to spruce up their smackers for centuries. However, back then, there weren’t the dangerous chemicals that pervade our world today.

A Red by Any Other Name
Carmine, also called Crimson Lake, Cochineal, Natural Red 4, C.I. 75470 or E120, is a pigment of a bright red color obtained from the carminic acid produced by some scale insects, such as the cochineal and the Polish cochineal, and is used as a general term for a particularly deep red color. Carmine is used in the manufacture of artificial flowers, paints, rouge, cosmetics, food additives and crimson ink.

Lipstick Through the Years
Ladies love their lipstick. Queen Elizabeth I wore her bold red lipstick on her pale face, creating a sensation for centuries to come. In the ’20s, footloose and fancy-free women proudly sported red lips as a symbol of their newfound power and voice in society. In the ’30s, kissing was deemed out of fashion due to the high cost of lipstick, which had at the time taken on a deeper, more intense hue. In the 1940s, makeup was worn only minimally. In the 1950s, paler lips took center stage—save for the rebels and sex symbols who sported red lipstick like a scarlet letter—giving way to the strawberry meringue Max Factor–created shades of the ’60s. The natural look was back en vogue in the mid- to late ’70s, but heavier makeup made a comeback in the ’80s with resurgence of classic red lips. Red lips, worn by everyone from queens and flappers to movie stars, gypsies, tramps, thieves and even Yuppies, have certainly endured the whims and follies of public perception and taste.

In the postmodern era of the new millennium, red lips are considered a timeless and classic look. Yes, red, the very word that strikes fear in many an otherwise collected gal (oh no, not me — I can’t wear red lipstick; it’s not on my color chart) is the very color that nowadays smacks of smart and beautiful for any thoroughly modern mom.

Name That Tone
Indeed, there’s a red out there for every skin tone. The key is to find the hue that works for you. Does your skin have a cool or warm tone? Cool-toned skin doesn’t tan easily and may burn in the summer. Most cool tones have a pinkish hue, like English, Irish and Scottish skin. Warm tones have an olive cast, like Mediterranean, Asian, Italian and black skin.

Made in the Shade
Cooler tones should wear true reds, plums or pinky reds. Warmer tones tend to look great with stronger hues and brown undertones like a brick red. Still not sure what to wear? There is a universal color by Annemarie Borlind called Poppy Red (www.vitaminlife.com).

Quick Tips for Hot Lips
Reds with blue undertones will make your teeth look whiter. For even whiter teeth, you can use whitening strips, baking soda or a Rembrandt whitening pen to brighten your teeth.

Cracked lips can make you look older, so why not try a simple approach? Rub some olive oil or lip balm on your lips, use an old toothbrush and stroke lightly; it exfoliates and plumps.

How to Make Your Lipstick Last Longer
	Apply a light layer of foundation on your lips.
	Wait a few seconds, then pat lips with loose powder.
	Outline lips with lip liner (neutral or same color as lip color) and fill in with feather-light strokes.
	Blot with tissue.
	Apply color with your lip brush to the center first, then brush color out toward edges.
	Blot with tissue (just blot lightly—you don’t want to smudge your art).

Get the Lead Out
When choosing lipsticks, it’s best to go au naturel. Some lipsticks may contain lead; the higher the lead count, the greater the risk to your health. For more information on the ingredients in your favorite tube, go to www.cosmeticsdatabase.com.

Like a Natural Woman
For lipstick that’s totally free of additives—and other funky stuff—check out these companies:
100% Pure (www.100percentpure.com)
Lavera (www.lavera.com)
Hemp Organics (www.vashonorganics.com)
Miessence (www.miorganicproducts.com)
Monavé (www.monave.com)
Afterglow Mineral Cosmetics (www.afterglowcosmetics.com)

If you don’t love the shades from the all-natural companies, you can consider mineral lipsticks. While these companies use carmine, they’re still a better alternative to a lot of the mainstream choices on the market.

Jane Iredale (www.janeiredale.com)
PeaceKeeper Cause-Metics (www.iamapeacekeeper.com)

Above all, the most beautiful thing you can wear on your lips is a smile—and it’s free!

The below passage is an excerpt from my book:

Here is a story about true identity theft, beyond what you or I can imagine. This excerpt is from the diary of Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin, who was among the first British soldiers to liberate Bergen-Belsen in 1945. He is writing about the arrival of a large quantity of lipstick in the days after the camp’s liberation.

I don’t know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it; it was the action of genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips; you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the postmortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity.}

The Nazis had stripped those beautiful women almost entirely of their identities…just as the world tries to strip us. Sometimes the mask of makeup and clothing is the only shield we have, and making the most of what we’ve got feels like our only defense. And it’s okay.

Pick up a copy of Shelly’s book Beauty by God: Inside-Out Secrets for Every Woman ($10.87, www.amazon.com).

Shelly serves as an inspirational beauty coach, aesthetician/makeup artist and beauty expert columnist for CBN.com, Beautiful One Magazine, Christian Women Online, Sheer Balance and On Course magazine. She is also the author of Beauty by God: Inside-Out Secrets for Every Woman. Shelly’s career has ranged from subtle face makeovers to painting bold murals on buildings. She is a graduate of the prestigious International Academy. Shelly also holds certifications as a nutritional consultant and herbalist, and she’s a graduate of one of the top makeup schools in the industry, Joe Blasco. Shelly lives in Florida with her husband, Angelo Ballestero, and their two sons.