Oxblood.

It’s my birthday in just over a week. I will be 24, an age which places me firmly and repulsively in ‘mid-20s’ territory. Ick. Anyway moving on before I start slathering on the anti-wrinkle cream…
Traditionally the day before my birthday I can be found in town, racing around the shops in search of my birthday outfit or ‘drunk dress’ as I like to call it, however this year something unheard of has happened as with 12 days to go it is already purchased, hung up and ready to be the vehicle of embarrassment. In a desperate attempt to recapture my glorious teenage years I decided to go a bit Goth, a bit darker than usual, and so have ended up with the following:
 
The dress is from Allsaints (Neely) and is Gothic in colour and lace, however the panels and fitted style assert that if paired with the wrong footwear (think strappy shoes/ stiletto heel) the dress may look more sophisticated and preened than intended. Therefore in a nod to my Dr Marten/ Creeper days I am going to don my Topshop Ample boots which are satisfyingly chunky and the industrial-metal embellishments perfectly offset the seductively sheer panels of the dress. I’m thinking simplicity when it comes to jewels so maybe just my Alexander McQueen Skull bangle, although I will predictably ‘bottle it’ at the last minute for fear of losing it whilst drunk. And of course my (imitation) fur stole because it makes me feel glamorous and means that I don’t have to bugger about with 30 minute cloakroom queues as I would if opting for a coat for warmth.

The problem this year is not in selecting an outfit, but a lipstick- something I regard equally as important as the wrong choice would of course ruin my night out and darken my days until I could be cleansed at my next birthday. (Sarcasm optional)
Suspecting that my usual bright red ‘rio rio’ Topshop lipstick may make me look a bit slutty and hooker-esque what with the fur, gold, and lace, I am in search of a luxurious oxblood/ deep plumb lipstick. I am having no luck.


Being a skint student I attempted a bit of DIY and mixed the darkest red lipstick I could find (from an old Stila palete) with a bit of black kohl eye liner (desperate times), however the colour -as seen in the pictures above- just wasn’t deep enough, even against my super pale skin. The weekend following this experiment I thought all my prayers had been answered when a girl came into work wearing the PERFECT shade so I interrogated her (it was ‘Dark side’ by MAC) and legged it down to my nearest counter only to find that it was SOLD OUT.

The search has been ongoing for a week now and is intensifying day by day- I sit here typing this blog entry with the remnants of Boot’s lipstick stock on my arm…curiously resembling some sort of abstract tattoo influenced by feminism and the menstrual cycle.

Help.