Finding My Color

No Lipstick

When I was a child, my mom didn’t allow me to wear make-up. My family often said that make-up aged you, and that I didn’t need it. Yet these same people would gift make-up to me. So I used it to draw and create artwork. I’d make beautiful faces, and put all sorts of colors together indiscriminately. I did notice however that little white girl’s parents would let them wear whatever makeup they wanted. Even if they looked like little clowns.

Clear “Lipstick”

My elementary school was very diverse. I had friends of all races. We’d put on lip gloss, the only thing our parents let us wear, and dance around to the Spice Girls. Paige was blonde and small so she was Baby Spice, Liz was a brunette tomboy, so she was Sporty Spice, Brandy had freckles and was plump, so she was always Ginger Spice, and Ash was a bit of a brat so she was Posh Spice. I was always Scary Spice. Not just because I was black and she was black, but because she was the best one. The fun one. Unafraid to be herself. Wild and free.

Red Lipstick

My mom is the epitome of class and elegance, never leaving the house without her pearl earrings and red lipstick. A rule I found ridiculous as a child. When I was finally allowed to try red lipstick in high school, I wore it differently than she did, a little black lipstick on my top lip, and a little red on the bottom. I liked things to be on the edgy side.

Brown Lipstick

In my early years of middle school, most of my friends were black. I couldn’t pull off the urban, hip-hop girl look that most of them wore, because I was not allowed to use certain slang or "talk ghetto." So instead I turned to my favorite music genres at that time, R&B, soul, and neo-soul, to shape my fashion choices. I wore dashikis and head wraps with brown lipstick. It was more natural looking, so Mom didn’t mind. As I drifted off listening to India Arie and Erykah Badu, I started writing poetry.

Pink Lipstick

In the media, pinks were often shown on white models. If they were black, they were light-skinned. But since pinks looked good on my mom, and she’s dark-skinned, I thought maybe I could pull it off. Then I looked in the mirror. I saw a Mammy figurine, dark skin, big pink lips.

Purple Lipstick

The first time I was allowed to wear lipstick to school, in high school, I wore my favorite color; purple. Ursula was a dark lavender shade that looked way better on me than pink did. But not everyone at school felt the same.

“You know black girls aren’t supposed to wear pink lipstick,” Kendra said.

This ashy ogre just didn’t like me, I don't know why. Maybe because she looked like the fat gross sister from the Proud family, and I didn’t, so she was jealous.

“This is purple.”

“Pink, purple, whatever, black girls aren't supposed to wear it!”

I don’t know who “black girls” was, but my name is Olivia Elizabeth Wright-Springer, and I do what I want.

Green Lipstick

In 1998 one of my favorite singers, Aaliyah, released a song called "Are You That Somebody." In the music video, even before she even starts singing, she crosses her arms, and puts this look on her face that says, "Here comes this fool." She was wearing green lipstick, it was the first time I’d seen anyone do so. Much less a black woman. She looked as if she was about to spit venom and I loved it.

Blue Lipstick

In 2017 I read an article by Kanika Kothari about how to wear blue lipstick. But what’s important to me is that they showed two black woman rocking the color better than any other celebs on the list. One was, Rihanna, world's leading champion of crazy-colored lipstick, and the other was Lupita Nyongo. The latter was more important to me, because she is dark skinned. And her picture here is radiant and gorgeous.

Orange Lipstick

Orange was as edgy as most black women tended to get back in the day. Case in point: even though this was my mom‘s favorite color, I don’t recall ever seeing her wear it while I was growing up. Not until I graduated high school at least. The funny thing about this color was that white woman couldn’t pull it off. Though back in the 90s they tried. And I enjoyed having this small privilege of setting the standard for once.

Yellow Lipstick

This color is the great equalizer and quite the wild card. On Etsy.com, I came across a bright metallic yellow called Sunshine that me look like Oshun. An African Goddess of love and joy, whose symbols include bees, honey, and sunflowers. But I also got one at the dollar store that made me look like a special child that had just eaten a yellow crayon. So use with caution, your results may vary.

Gray Lipstick

“You gotta be twice as good as they are to get half of what they got.”

A quote that most people grow up with.

Once my mom and I were in Forever 21.

She had pointed to a poster on the wall and said, “I was hoping you’d start dressing more like her.”

She was a white woman dressed as a young professional, wearing gray lipstick. This was her version of at this quote. I don’t agree with it, Despite the fact that stormy gray does look good on me.

Metallic Lipstick

Gold and Silver are colors that sing on black woman. They remind the world that we are gods. They don’t look bad on white woman, but the colors don’t glow on them the way they do on us. With most makeup in the world favoring white woman’s faces, I’m thankful for that.

Black Lipstick

I found my color in black lipstick. It’s like raising my power fist, but my face. I feel strong and powerful, like I can take on the world. Old white men turn their heads and break their necks in shock and horror. Because it shows them that I know my place is on a throne. Not in the box society wants to put me in. It scares away the weak, and empowers the strong. All while looking elegant and in charge in my crown. I wear it with just about any and everything. To the point where my dad asked my mom, "does she have any other colors?" It suits the black activist, feminist, goth, nerd, and witch in me. When I die it’s the lipstick I want to be buried in. It’s funny how people grow and change, because I used to think that mom’s lipstick rule was weird and a little stupid, but now if I leave the house without earrings and my black lipstick on, I feel naked.