Feeling inpired by a few magazines, a few friends and a few blog friends – I set out on a quest to find a red lipstick. I’m pretty sure the girls in the Nordstrom’s cosmetics department are sick of seeing me. To be honest, as nice and helpful as they are, I hope I don’t see them for awhile either.

I started searching for the perfect red about two weeks ago. I just wanted a fun red that could be casual and not look scary or trashy. I’ve seen plenty of examples of great red lipstick. Just look at Naomi’s blog – she is often rocking a red lip. Emily totally found the perfect red. And Joanna keeps blogging about red lipstick.

I’ll spare you the details but the last two weeks have involved several trips to Nordstrom’s, Sephora, and Long’s drugs. Here are some of the ones I tried:

Lady Bug, Ruby Woo and Lady Dager (Mac)
Cruella, Rouge d’Enfer, Fire Down Below and Spanish Red (Nars)
Red, Burnt Red, and Slopes (Bobbi Brown)
British Red and True Red (L’Oreal)
Red-y to Wear (Clinique)

They were all certainly red but either too bright, too orange-y,or too purple-y for my skin tone and my liking.

I’m not the most patient person and I was ready to call it quits last night when the super-patient girl at the Nars counter (I love Nars, p.s.) pulled out a color that wasn’t with the testers: Forbidden Red. The heavens opens, choirs of angels sang, and I finally went home with my perfect red. Whew! I also picked up a Clinique lipliner in Chili that I love.

Mission accomplished.

I love my new lipstick.

1st image and 2nd image