The Totally Justifiable Reason Why I Always Splurge on Luxury Lipstick
Kim Kardashian has her faults, but when I see Daily Mail commenters, Twitter trolls, mommy bloggers, and anyone else who thinks time spent letting loose their rage on celebrities from behind the safety of their computer screen is time well spent pull the “bad mother” card on Kim for letting her toddler daughter fuss with makeup, I roll my eyes. Hard. Because while North West and I have very few things in common, one trait—the only trait?—we do share is an inborn penchant for beauty products.
Our paths diverge from there. Three-year-old North gets her hair done by Jen Atkin; three-year-old me wouldn’t leave the house without a swipe of my mother’s frosted mauve lipstick. And I mean, I literally would not leave the house without this weird lip color on. I was obsessed.
For years I wore that lipstick everywhere, with mom as makeup artist—with the exception of school, given that my mother, understandably, did not wish to rouse the attention of child services—until I was permitted to choose my own shade from the same place my mom chose (and regularly re-upped) hers: the Dior counter at Saks. (For what it’s worth, I opted out of the frosted finish in favor of a sheer rose, which is about as age-appropriate as it’s going to get when you’re, like, ten.)
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I would hate to place blame on anyone for anything, but it’s definitely, entirely, absolutely 100-percent my mom’s fault that I’ve been hooked on high-end beauty for the past two decades and then some. How could you expect a 13-year-old to go from Dior to drugstore just like that? Not gonna happen. True to my adolescent self, lipstick has always been my vice; I’d rather have one $50 tube than ten $5 tubes. Or five $10 tubes. Actually, ten $50 tubes would be ideal.
I don’t deny that there’s something to be said for the thrill of a great product at a great price. Of course there is. It’s just that my personal preference is, and has always been, to spend foolish amounts of money on something you can find for a much lower price somewhere else, albeit less luxuriously and packaged in significantly less lacquered metal that feels weighty and important, like some kind of medallion, in your hand.
But if you have other plans for what to do with your money—putting it in your savings account, for example—then celebrate your levelheadedness with a more affordable likeness of my costly faves… or the real thing. It’s your call, but let’s just say you know exactly what I would do.
