Women have been applying tints and dyes to their pouts for millennia to achieve a similar result as what lip augmentation can do - accentuate the lips.

Lipstick history goes back thousands of years to ancient Mesopotamia, where women tinted their lips with red clay, iron oxide, henna, seaweed, iodine and more. Some preparations were toxic but fortunately, safety regulations for lipstick were put in place in the 1930s.

Lipstick has gone in and out of fashion throughout history and has been attributed to upper-class women, lower-class women, prostitutes, and witches at different times.

In the early 20th century, lipstick was popular among all social classes and became a symbol of female emancipation, rebellion, and femininity. For the most part, vibrant red lipstick colours were popular during this time period.

During the flamboyant days of flappers in the 1920s, dark red lipstick came into fashion for its sensual appeal. A decade later, brighter shades of red became popular. For many women, lipstick became a symbol of rebellion and they wore it to shock their elders, applying it very thickly throughout the first half of the 20th century.

Lip gloss became popular as well, with the first commercially available product from legendary Hollywood makeup artist Max Factor.

During World War II (1939-1945), the popularity of lipstick did not falter and it was marketed to women who wanted to escape the melancholic atmosphere of the war. Wartime factories were stocked with lipstick to boost the morale of female workers and increase their efficiency. The US Marines even had an official lipstick colour called Montezuma Red that matched the red trim on women’s hats.

During the 1940s, Max Factor came out with the first long-lasting lipstick known as Tru-colour and Goya introduced the first lip liner.

In 1949, the chemist Hazel Bishop invented the first smear-proof lipstick. In the 1950s, dark red lips came back into fashion thanks to actresses like Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe who sported such colours on the big screen. Preferences shifted in the 1960s when dark red hues were replaced with white, frosty hues. White, lavender, and pink were perfect to contrast dark, heavy eyeliner and mascara.

Lipstick continues to be a popular product and there are currently a wide range of colours available. Today, though make up fads come and go, personal taste is ultimately what reigns supreme when it comes to colour choices today.

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