Besame Cosmetics – It’s Vintage, Not Old. Just Like Me.

I am officially 40 years old today! Not sure why I added an exclamation point there, to be honest, but positivity, my friends. Positivity.

In honor of me entering the 4th decade of my life, I’d thought it would only be appropriate to talk about vintage makeup. Ok. Not the kind you buy in eBay or find in grandma’s closet, but the new kind sold by Besame Cosmetics, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite brands.

A little back story on how I came across this brand…

A while back I was reading, Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella. It’s a quirky, but extremely charming novel about a modern girl, Lara, who finds herself haunted by the spirit of her deceased aunt, Sadie. Back in the 1920’s, Sadie epitomized the modern woman. She dressed in short dresses, wore makeup, smoked, drank and dated men her parents did not approve. However, she died all alone in a nursing home with no family or friends around, and decided that her niece, who is in her 20’s, was going to help her with some unfinished business solving the mystery of a cherished piece of jewelry and artwork. Of course, along the way, Sadie ends up helping Lara, a practical person by nature, to let loose a bit and enjoy life. It’s a fabulous story.

Anyways, there is a part of the book where Sadie convinces Lara to dress up in typical flapper girl garb for a date with a hunky American businessman. They end up in a second hand store, where Sadie, invisible to everyone except Lara, begins pointing out all the items she would have worn back in the 1920’s, including makeup. Sophie Kinsella went into such great detail describing how the lipsticks, powder and mascara not only looked, but how it was used and applied, that it stuck with me. So when actually doing some research on vintage makeup,  I came across Besame Cosmetics.

I was immediately hooked on the brand. Not only did it look like something out of Twenties Girl, the whole website had this vintage, old Hollywood vibe that I dig. Their lipsticks are all replicas of shades used from 1910 -1960’s and their cake mascara is also supposed to mimic the type used by women of that time. Just check out some of the Instagram pictures posted by their fans and you will get an idea of how totally cool these vintage looks are.

I swear, they could be selling puppy poop in a tube and I would have bought it simply for the presentation.

That’s kind of gross, actually, but you get my drift.

I have a long list of items that I want to buy from Besame, including everything from the upcoming Marvel Agent Carter line — sight unseen — but I decided, shortly before the eve of my 40th birthday, that the most appropriate item would be a lipstick, aptly named 1941 Victory Red.

I know that something named 1940 You’re Old would be better, but Besame skipped that year, so when deciding between 1939 Tango Red or 1941 Victory Red, I went with the second one. Which works for me because 1941 is a gorgeous, vibrant, highly pigmented, true red. It’s not stiff, which allows for the color to glide on easily on to your lips. I wish I could do a live demo to show you how much color goes on with one swipe. I am in love!

Also, I need to take a moment to discuss how gorgeous the tube is. I would totally take it out in the middle of a dinner date with the hubs or right before a big meeting and reapply my lipstick just to show it off. Now, I know that this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I am totally swooning right now.

Typically, I don’t wear colors this vibrant on a day to day and reserve them for special occasions like my birthday, but, like Lara, I’ve decided that life’s too short to sit around and wait for the right moment to wear a cute dress, take a day off to go to the beach, or in this case, put on red lipstick. So, I decided, just before the BIG 40 on a random Thursday, to get all glammed up and wear Victory Red. I didn’t do much. I worked from home, packed up some old (vintage?) kitchen stuff in boxes to take to the Goodwill and attempted to build a Minecraft Lego set with Logan. It was, for all intents and purpose, a totally boring day. But every time I looked in the mirror, I was like…Damn Girl! You look FABULOUS!

Maybe 40 won’t be so bad, after all.

Till next time, my friends!

Maritza

PS – if you like the products mentioned above, feel free to click on the affiliate link on the sidebar. Make sure you read the disclaimer before you buy. 🙂