By Tracey Strange
Talking with Kim Knight for her Canvas story on red lipstick last week brought back a series of lipstick memories, not all of them positive. The most vivid involved a friend's wedding. Asked to do the bride's makeup, I realised about five minutes before she left for the venue that my own face was bare. A quick solution? Red lipstick and a few coats of mascara. Going without makeup would have been better.
Seated opposite a Hollywood A-lister (married to a New Zealander, and a friend of the bride), I spent my only chance to chat to a celebrity I wasn't contractually obliged to interview, self-consciously wiping lipstick off my glass and worrying about smudges. My mouth looked like I'd swabbed it with a raspberry ice-block. In wedding photos I am the garish wicked stepsister next to a gorgeously natural-looking Cinderella (the bride).
Lynette Collins, a clever fashion stylist with whom I worked years ago, was a genius at putting outfits together for models. But her true talent lay in styling the rest of us. Her best tip for camouflaging a non-model-like bum or tum was simple: shun "slimming" black pants or uncomfortable support knickers in of favour clothes and accessories that draw attention to the face or decolletage - the idea being that people will focus on your winning smile or twinkly eyes instead of ill-proportioned nether-regions.
Her "clients" could be recognised by their beautiful earrings and pro-looking makeup. Bold lipstick was a key feature. And while I no longer find any fault at all in saddlebags and gravity-affected bottoms (even my own), I still think the impact of a good lip is underrated.
