PHOTO: FREDERIK LINDSTROM FOR INTERMISSION MAGAZINE
Women (and men!) have been wearing lipstick for thousands of years. Luckily, this makeup bag staple has evolved a lot since ancient times. In honor of National Lipstick Day, we pulled together a list of the most mind-blowing, unbelievable facts about lipstick—keep reading to see them all!
1. Big Spenders:
The average woman spends $15,000 on makeup in her lifetime—and of that amount, $1,780 goes toward lipstick.
PHOTO: FREDERIQUE VEYSSET
2. Lipstick That Won’t Kiss and Tell:
You owe your smudge-proof pout to a chemist named Hazel Bishop, who developed a formula for long-lasting lipstick while working in a dermatologist’s lab after WWII.
PHOTO: VINTAGE AD
3. The Golden Ticket:
One of the most expensive lipsticks in the world is Guerlain’s KissKiss Gold and Diamonds Lipstick, which will set you back $62,000. While their original KissKiss lipstick costs only $34, what you’re really paying for here is the bling. The tube is made from 110 grams of 18k gold and encrusted with 199 diamonds to really help you sparkle. Bonus: You get your pick of 15 exclusive shades, and it’s refillable (at that price, we really would expect nothing less).
4. Lipstick Liberation:
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and other early feminists painted their lips as a symbol of emancipation when they marched in the 1912 NYC Suffragette rally.
PHOTO: PINTEREST
5. Status Symbol:
Both men and women in Ancient Egypt wore lipstick as a symbol of their status. They applied it almost daily with wet sticks of wood, and favored colors such as magenta, blue-black, and orange (so S/S 14)—though red was also a popular shade.
PHOTO: KAT VON D STUDDED KISS LIPSTICK
6. It Was Used As a Calling Card:
In Ancient Greece, lipstick fell out of fashion among high-class citizens, and was instead used to identify prostitutes. In fact, it was the law that prostitutes couldn’t go out without wearing lipstick, lest they “deceive” men.
PHOTO: YSL ROUGE PUR COUTURE
Indulge in Drama!