Totally Tell Me Everything: 1...about Lipstick

Skywalking Through Neverland: A Star Wars / Disney / Marvel Fan Podcast

Welcome to the very first episode of Totally Tell Me Everything, a monthly podcast hosted by podcasters and friends, Sarah Woloski and Bryn MacKinnon. Since this is our first episode, we start with a little info about who we are, how we met (thanks to our other podcasts, Skywalking Through Neverland and Window to the Magic), what we’re into (we share a lot of fandoms and also have many that diverge), and what you can expect from our show (one fun topic, three burning questions, lots of fun conversation! Check out the podcast that inspired our format, Wonderful). Then we dive right into this month’s subject: LIPSTICK! Our hosts explore lipstick as therapy, lipstick as power, lipstick as a connection to family, lipstick’s role in history and so much more.

Question 1: What does lipstick mean to you?

• Bryn talks about her Lipstick Nana, Avon mini lipsticks, office life and lipstick, and Cover Girl’s “Iceblue Pink”
• Sarah tells us how moving to California for college, swing dancing, and interest in retro styles gave her the opportunity to move from “shy kid” to confident young woman, especially thanks to Besame Cosmetics’ “Red Velvet,” Sarah’s first perfect red lip color.

Question 2: What did we want to learn about lipstick?

Thanks to Sarah, we get deep dive on the history of red lipstick, taking us all the way back to Ancient Egypt and guiding us to the Middle Ages, the Elizabethan and Victorian Eras in England and the United States in the 1910s and beyond, starting when the Suffragettes used red lipstick as a way to get their message out about women’s rights, and then hitting on important moments in red lipstick in nearly every decade until today.

Related links:

• Middle Ages: Reading Our Lips: The History of Lipstick Regulation in Western Seats of Power
• Elizabethan Era: Fashion History Lesson: Red Lipstick has a Tumultuous Past
• Victorian Era: The Complete Annotated Murder on the Links
• Suffragettes:
• • The Sordid, F*cked Up History of Red Lipstick
  • Compacts and Cosmetics
• Racism, Sexism and the Black Women’s Separate Fight for Suffrage
• • “It’s a Struggle They Will Wage Alone.” How Black Women Won the Right to Vote
  • Vanguard, How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote and Insisted on Equality for All
• 1910s: First twist-up lipstick
• 1920s: Red lips stigmatized
• 1930s: Lipstick de-stigmatized
• 1940s: Lipstick symbol of women’s resilience during wartime, boosts efficiency
• 1970s: Red loses popularity, some feminists protest against makeup, male gaze
• Cruelty-free cosmetics: Double-check that your favorite brands are truly cruelty-free.

Question 3: What’s something “lipstick” that you’re excited about right now?

• Sarah is head-over-heels for Besame’s “Wild Orchid” lipstick, a gorgeous recreation of a popular lip color from 1952. It’s a deep fuschia red with a little bit of shimmer. It looks great and feels great, and she’ll often put it on at 10pm just because it makes her so happy!
• Bryn is stoked on reds in all their forms, bright, soft, neutral and more. She loves the versatility of red lipstick and notices that she’s going bolder with lip color as she gets older, and she loves it.

Final Thoughts

Thought fandoms like Star Wars, Disneyland, Marvel, and Harry Potter may have been why Sarah and Bryn first connected (and continue to bring them lots of joy), who would have thought they’d become even closer because of their shared love and admiration for lipstick, this little “boost in a tube.” Lipstick is so much more than just lipstick, isn’t it?

Huge thanks to the totally talented “John Williams of Podcasting,” Rob Dehlinger, his wife, Lisa Dehlinger, and their daughter, Zoe, for our super theme song. Check out his stellar band, the Alpha Rhythm Kings.

Thanks for joining us for our first episode! We hope you’ll come over and sit by us for our next conversation, episode 2...about Space!