White Teeth and Red Lipstick

Fair Warning: This post is full of photos of a 60-something's face! Proceed only if you are capable of handling closeups of wrinkles and pores and age spots and all sorts of real-life stuff you won't see in a fashion magazine.

But I'm not a model nor a celebrity; I'm just me, a gal who has kissed the 50s goodbye and is romping through the 60s. Recently I had my teeth whitened--for the first time ever--using bleach trays at night for a month. The results were amazing! Here my dentist is holding up a sample of the color my teeth used to be:

Wow! What a difference! I celebrated by going out and getting some new red lipsticks:

Three out of the four of these Revlon shades have been around since the Dawn of Time. Kinda like me. I figured if they've lasted that long, they must be good. The fourth, "Softsilver Red," was new to me, but I liked the shade--and anything with "silver" in it gets my vote.

In the photo below, they are (from the top, proceeding clockwise): "Fire & Ice," "Softsilver Red," "Cherries in the Snow," and "Love That Red":

This is Softsilver Red:

It looks more like a pink, once applied. I like it, but I'm after a more full-on red:

Next up, "Fire & Ice":

Yeah, that's what I'm talking' 'bout. But a lip color this strong is definitely going to need to be worn with a lip pencil underneath, or it'll go skittering all over my 60-something lips:

The sound of the crinkling plastic as I unwrapped the lipsticks attracted Mu Shu's attention. Nope, not a treat, Mu; sorry!

This is "Love That Red." It's quite similar to "Fire & Ice," but maybe a degree more blue, less orange:

Well, I like it, too. But the lip pencil situation remains. If I wear one of these super-red shades, I'm going to have to spring for a matching pencil:

Last up, "Cherries in the Snow." It skews toward fuchsia, farther away from a true red:

I like it, too!

All that taking off and re-applying of lipstick could not happen without my favorite makeup remover by Estée Lauder (or "Empty Larder," as my old boyfriend used to call it, because it is so pricey):

To rehydrate my lips and the surrounding skin between scrub downs, a teeny dab of Argan Oil did wonders. I got this from Whole Foods. It's great stuff:

Four shades of lipstick later, this is what my testing site looked like.

Which lip color did I pick? I don't know; I might keep them all.

Heaven bless drug-store lipsticks--one of the best ways for a woman to splurge on a new look for very little money.

And Heaven bless my dentist, for pulling off a Cinderella on my teeth:

 Remarkable!