WHO ISN’T ALWAYS looking for ways to cram several activities into that teensy break? To score two for the price of one? To get out the door five minutes ago? Multipurpose color sticks, the latest trend in women’s makeup, feed all those urges. Getting done up, the cosmetics industry has realized, doesn’t need to take all your time or cost a fortune. In fact, these days one stick can do it all.
Lips, eyelids, cheeks — hell, wherever you think could use a little color: slap it on there with these all-in-one makeup applicators. On the fancy end, Nars offers up the Multiple ($33), an oblong stick of color you can dab on cheeks, lips, eyes, and body. Urban Decay’s One Stick Wonder ($18) is actually two chalky sticks of complementary colors to smear all over your face, for the girl who doesn’t want to sport that Midwestern-inspired wholesale color coordination. Cargo makes the ColorTube ($24) — pioneered by Helen Hunt’s own makeup guru — which comes in four soft colors, each of which includes a sheen coat to finish off the job. Stila’s Convertible Color ($28) could go just about anywhere you want it, and comes in a mirrored mini compact so you can see how silly that bright red looks on your lids. And the Body Shop has a Lip and Cheek Tint ($10) in a deep wine-burgundy that you can apply with a roller ball.
Of course, not everyone finds slathering this stuff on various parts of her face the healthiest of habits. Upon hearing about the products for the first time, Marion Buchsbaum, an assistant professor of dermatology at Boston Medical Center, let out an animated “Eeewwww.” Buchsbaum said swapping bacteria between your mouth and eyes could be dangerous: “If you have an active cold sore going on, and you transfer it to your eye, you run a very high risk of infecting your vision.”
Okay, so there may be a downside to the departure of high maintenance. But Steven Shama, a dermatologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, assured us that most cosmetic products are packed with preservatives to prevent such gross problems. “This is a good idea,” he concluded. “Anything to make things easier for people.”
We couldn’t agree more. Assuming that the risk of infection, cold-sore transfers, and severe bacterial build-up is low, we’re all for products that promote the latest fashion trend: lazy, cheap chic.
??Major-department-store makeup counters
??Body Shop, Prudential Center, 800 Boylston Street, Boston, (617) 375-0070; 1440 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 876-6334; or call (800) BODYSHOP for other locations
??www.sephora.com
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