The Strategist | I’ve Used This $9 C.O. Bigelow Lip Gloss Since High School
When I was a teenage girl, I wore Sillybandz stacked in a fluorescent clump on both wrists. My relatively minimalist beauty routine involved Neutrogena sunscreen, the Urban Decay Naked palette in various orgasmic shades, and black tightlined eyeliner. I would apply the eyeliner during my subway ride to school, glaring at nervous men who had the misfortune of looking at me for more than a second. Now in my mid-20s, I wouldn’t be able to do a wing if I were on stationary ground! Since then, I’ve cycled through tinted moisturizers and face wash, tubing mascara, and pale blushes. My makeup routine now is truly minimalist; I’d like to think of it as French, but it’s really just lazy. Things I liked then are obviously embarrassing now.
Except for one magical product: an $8 tube that has been a staple in my makeup bag since I first plucked it off the rack at C.O. Bigelow pharmacy on Sixth Avenue, between 8th and 9th Streets, wedged in among Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy’s $30 tortoiseshell headbands and $14 toothpastes. It’s simple. It is just a lip gloss, but it’s perfect.