Hollywood, Red Lipstick and Sex Symbols: A Celluloid Love Affair

Silent film star Theda Bara was probably the first actress to wear red lipstick. Thanks to the handiwork and make-up artistry of Maximillian Factorowitz, better known to the world as Max Factor, the deep red lips that blazed across the screen in the 1920's ignited a trend that to this day signals passion, romance, love and sex appeal.

In the earliest days of stage and screen, dramatic make-up punctuated by striking red lips separated actresses from the ordinary women who could not easily afford to buy extravagant beauty products. By the mid 1940’s that all changed. Several different make-up companies began introducing seductively named lipsticks and matching nail polishes that were sold in department stores and drugstores all across the country. From the red carpet to the living room carpet, from the ballroom to the boardroom, from the bright lights of Hollywood, to the dim lights of the bedroom, the allure of red lipstick is here to stay!

Some of our favorite red-lipped celebrities from the present and the past: Qwen Stefani, Scarlett Johansson, Krisitn Bell, Lil Kim, Chistina Aguilera, Madonna, Billie Holiday, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Naomi Campbell, Kate Walsh, Pee Wee Herman, Anne Hathaway, Queen Latifah, Kate Perry, Mary J. Blige, Ashley Tisdale, Boy George, Hayden Panettierre, Grace Jones, Chloe Sevigny, Diana Ross, Lady Gaga, Alek Wek, Taylor Swift, Angelina Jolie, Lena Horne, Beyonce, Betty Davis, Ava Gardner, Lucille Ball, Lola Falana, Beyonce and the list goes on and on….

There's a red lipstick hue for you too. If you have a cool complexion, a skintone that’s pale with pink undertones, choose cooler reds like a true red or a pinkish red. If you have a warm complexion, a skintone that has yellow, olive or darker undertones, choose warmer reds with a brown base, like a brick or rusty red.