Red Lips - Lipstick For Mens Preference

Oh, modern science. Every day, making enormous strides in areas of women's health and wellness. Like these studies on what lipstick color is the most effective man-snagger. In case you were worried, science now proves that men like red lipstick the most. What a... relief?

Well, for anyone who wears red lipstick for purposes other than to ensnare some dude, this "scientific" information is largely irrelevant. We're assuming that more than a few of you are with us on this. When we reach for the red, much like the rest of our makeup, we're doing it for ourselves — because we love it and we think it looks awesome. Duh.

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Apparently, though, this isn't enough of a reason for us to want to wear it, as science (or at least the University of Manchester) seems out to prove. As reported by the
Daily Mail,
"Scientists at the University of Manchester found that red lipstick draws attention to the mouth, most notably from the opposite sex." If we saw a man wearing red lipstick, our attention would probably be drawn to his mouth, too. But, onward: "In their study, they tracked the eye movements of 50 men who were viewing different images of women and found that men spent longer fixating on the women wearing red lipstick. They found that they spent 7.3 seconds staring at red lips, 6.7 seconds on those with pink lips, and 2.2 seconds on those who wore no lipstick." This combined with a study that proved waitresses wearing red lipstick get more tips has caused the Daily Mail to proclaim that science has found red to be the sexiest lip color.

We really don't love being told whether or not our favorite lip color is the sexiest of them all. We already know it's sexy, because our definition of "sexy" extends far beyond what attracts a man, for reasons like feminism, individuality, self-esteem, or in my personal experience, having a girlfriend who doesn't give a hoot what color my lipstick is. All she cares about is whether or not it's going to come off on her (Sephora's cream lip stain won't, just saying). Isn't that how it should be?

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At any rate, we think there might be slightly more to the sex appeal of a lipstick color than just what color it is. Like, um, how good it makes you feel. We can certainly see how red lipstick might be the sexiest thing ever on a woman who loves it. But, for all the chapstick-only girls out there, we like to believe that one's sex appeal has more to do with one's confidence — no matter who you're trying to attract.

NARS Lipstick in Manhunt, $26, available at Sephora.

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