(pictured above) August 27, 2013: The first time I wore red lipstick.
by: Yaba Blay
It wasn’t until I graduated from college and started getting my hair braided at a shop owned and operated by Senegalese women that I began to appreciate bright colors on dark skin. No matter what time of year I entered that shop those sisters were wearing sunshine. Bold, bright, and full of life. Nobody can rock electric blue, hot pink, golden yellow, ruby red and any other color of the kaleidoscope like we can. Nobody. So why do so many of us who wear dark skin avoid wearing bright lip colors?
It wasn’t until the “Ruby Woo Revolution” that I began to even consider wearing red lipstick. While my homegirls were rocking red lips, I sat on the fence, singing my same ole tune “red lipstick doesn’t look right on me.” And then I started working on ‘Pretty. Period.’ Here I was rallying up the troops, organizing a battle cry against the negative assumptions people make about dark skin, and not only was I feeding into the negativity but I was feeding off of it.
On August 27, 2013 – yes, just a few months ago – I wore red lipstick for the first time. In my life. I’ll be 40 this year. The above picture was taken on that day. I wore M·A·C ‘Ruby Woo.’ A few weeks later, my godsister sent me M·A·C ‘RiRi Woo’ as a gift. Today, my daughter gave me a stick of Revlon Colorburst in “Provocateur Femme Fatale.” I’ve tried plums and pinks. Next, I want to try orange. And maybe even fuchsia. I’m loving color these days and I can’t believe it took me this long to get into it. Like my girlfriend said to me the other day, “They can’t keep you out of that red lipstick now, can they?” Nope! ‘They’ sure can’t. And ‘they’ shouldn’t keep you out of red lipstick either.
I decided to create this lookbook, “Ruby You,” after hearing about the public response to Rocquelle Porch’s photo that appeared on Essence Online’s Facebook page last month. Rocquelle, whose own blog ‘Consider Me Lovely’ encourages others to tap into their own individual style, was photographed for Essence’s StreetStyle series. She wore red lipstick. While the photographs were meant to highlight natural hair in Houston, the large majority of the comments focused on Rocquelle’s lip color. The long and short of it – most commenters offered their opinion that red was not her color.
150 comments later, Rocquelle responded:
“If I were still that young lady with horrid self-esteem who didn't come to gain confidence and learn how to be comfortable in my own skin until around age 21, the things you all have said about me would hurt me deeply. Thankfully, I've learned to drown out the opinions of others and continue to live by the rule, 'If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all.' Thanks Essence Online for including my picture in your roundup from the event!”
As much as this lookbook is inspired by Rocquelle, it’s not for Rocquelle. Not necessarily. I admire her ability to maintain a positive attitude through something that would have likely brought most of us to tears. While this is indeed a show of support for her, this lookbook is a show of support for all of us. No matter how many of my friends or how many make-up artists encouraged me to try some color, because I hadn’t seen anyone with my complexion wear color(s) like that, I wasn’t convinced. Take a look at this lookbook and be convinced.
Last week, I put out a call to my social media networks and asked for 10 volunteers – women who aren’t afraid to wear bright lipstick and WERK it – and I asked them to send me a photograph of themselves. Without telling them what I would use the photographs for, they sent them to me en masse. I asked for 10, I received nearly 200! Although I was only able to use a fraction of the photographs, the very fact that so many women sent in their photographs shows that sisters really do and CAN wear color! (See a few of the submissions here)
Whoever came up with the idea that bright colors bring attention to dark skin was right. Isn’t that the point? There’s freedom in color – FREE UP!!
