A SPECIAL LIPSTICK
IN Rosamunde Pilcher's Coming Home, there is an important scene where a sixteen-year old Judith is preparing to go to a Christmas party. That party will be a rite of passage for Judith, for there she is going to have her first kiss, from Edward, her first love!

Importantly, Judith prepares for the party wearing mascara for the first time, and a special lipstick she calls "Coral Rose". The lipstick, mascara and perfume make Judith feel like an adult, and make her (again perhaps for the first time) realize that she is, in fact, beautiful.

Despite its many failings, Coming Home is valuable because it shows how beauty and fashion are not only central in a woman's life, but are also joyful and empowering.

When a woman starts to use lipstick or wear make-up she is entering into a long tradition of female knowledge and female art. Women have been making their own cosmetics since time immemorial.

Make-up was frowned upon by moralists for years; in the Victorian times it was tolerated so long as it was discreet and home-made. Commercial make-up production began exactly in the time of the Victorians: the use of make-up was popularized and eventually made to triumph by Hollywood.

The word make-up was first used by Max Factor himself, to replace the older word "cosmetics". Make-up has a long history and is a great art. More on the liberating effect of make-up later!