Just lipstick

In the latest novel (last night's reading) the heroine dresses, brushes her hair and applies lipstick before going downstairs for breakfast coffee.

I've previously come across, in a different novel, another reference to the heroine applying only lipstick as her daily makeup.

No foundation nor powder. No eyeshadow nor rouge (aka "blush").

Just lipstick.

That's a fun flashback, because my mother did the same thing back in the day. In photos from the late 1950s and throughout the '60s: Lipstick. That's it.

I asked her once why just lipstick? We gals from the 1980s painted our faces with lots of makeup: Particularly eyes and cheeks. But we had the entire ensemble: Groomed eyebrows, eyelashes and lips as well.

She couldn't recall why. It was just "the thing" back then.

I love retro stuff, and these novels are another treat in that regard; they often provide little memory glimpses from early childhood.