Before Marilyn Monroe, Jessica Rabbit, or Sophia Loren, there was Betty Boop. The 1930s animated cartoon character needs no introduction — except to note that she was one of the first sex symbols to achieve mainstream stardom. The reason, of course, was partly due to her aesthetic: The body-hugging dress, raven-black hair, and bold lip practically oozed seduction with a capital S. Her beauty look was as iconic as her shimmy.
Now, beauty giant MAC Cosmetics is bottling that sex appeal in lipstick form — and the Betty Boop Red is coming just in time for Valentine's Day. The bright crimson shade feels perfectly fitting for the OG pin-up — whose trademark became her heart-shaped lips — even despite the caricature's earlier appearances almost always being in black and white.
At first glance, the lipstick looks nearly identical to MAC's cult-favorite Ruby Roo hue. Though we are spotting a minor distinction: This one is a tinge lighter, with less of a blue undertone. But we'd venture to say the nostalgic factor gives it an extra edge for the love-filled holiday, so scoop up the limited-edition lipstick on the MAC website come February 14. Boop-oop-a-doop!