The Scent Of Your Painted Mouth
Flowers on your lips, flowers on your wrists.
Picture this: you’re holding a nondescript tube of lipstick. Maybe it’s encased in matte black or a luxurious metallic gold. You pop off the cap, twist up the bullet, and smear the shade on your mouth. The colour doesn’t matter; I want you to imagine you’re inhaling, and the scent of this lipstick suddenly fills your nostrils. What’s that fragrance?
Irises.
Used in perfumery and cosmetics since the days of Ancient Egypt, irises are known for their delicate powdery scent. In a lipstick-gone-off, that scent can skew towards rancid wax, conjuring a musty cardboard box full of half-burned candles. But in a fresh tube? You’re an old Hollywood starlet, surrounded by Max Factor compacts and heady bouquets from adoring fans.
That lipstick-y smell has long been an inspiration for perfumers. In 2015, REPLICA by Maison Martin Margiela launched Lipstick On, a polarising perfume that had some claiming it felt like wearing grandma’s house on their wrists (not something I personally take issue with, but that’s me). With notes of iris, heliotrope, vanilla and patchouli, it was meant to remind the wearer of their earliest makeup memories.
However, REPLICA clearly didn’t know what a good thing they had going, and they discontinued the scent. While I understand us iris-heads aren’t the most populous of fragrance purchasers, I still think there’s a market for lipstick-scent seekers, which is why I happily recommend Mondo Mondo’s I Like You In Velvet to anyone looking to spritz themselves with eau-de-levres. Here, iris mixes with fresh, sweet carrots and softened suede, referencing “silk gloves, lipstick wax, silver like the movies.” How romantic.
If iris wasn’t your first instinct when I asked you to imagine your lipstick tube, perhaps you were thinking of MAC’s signature fragrance. The scent that permeates their lipsticks* is a specific vanilla-and-doll-flesh concoction, sweet and comforting with a slightly synthetic touch. Personally, I’d wear that in a perfume too.
If I think too hard on the scenting of lipsticks, I start to remember the stats that say the average woman eats several pounds of lipstick in her lifetime, though Snopes has thankfully disproven these claims.
That being said, I know I was definitely chomping into tubes of Lip Smackers as a child, and even now I catch myself enjoying the tangy, Sweet Tarts-like taste of my Lawless lip gloss, perhaps a little too much.
BITE Beauty clearly understands the lipstick lovers desire to whiff and lick their product, offering personalised scents and flavours at their custom Lip Labs. Even in adulthood, the desire for deliciously fragranced lips doesn’t waver.
Whether it’s a bottle of perfume that brings to mind Nana’s vanity, or a gloss that tastes like childhood penny candy, one thing is clear: nostalgia is the most potent sales tool. I guess Don Draper was right.
I was a big fan of yours during your XoVain days. Glad to see you're back, Hannah.
She gets me