<p>Any recommendations?</p>
<p>D is looking for a lipstick that won't smear off onto her flute</p>
<p>Something more like a lip-stain? Or something lightweight, so she can easily wipe it off before playing.</p>
<p>Some of the two part type lipsticks work great. They usually have a little foam type brush to put the color on, then you let it set for about 1 to 2 minutes then apply the gloss coat. There is one I use that is so good that even after a dental appointment it still looked perfect and it did not come off on the dentists hands at all. Walking to other room…the one I use that is so good is Superstay color by Maybeline. She could play her instrument with it on and it won’t come off on it at all.</p>
<p>Max Factor line is almost indelible! My D’s Show Choir used to have to wear one of the bright red shades for competitions and the darned stuff would stay on for three days! But is is VERY evident and I’d think that it, like any lipstick.
Another, lighter-weight option is Bene-tint (comes in 2 shades). which you can pick up at Sephora stores(possibly in their Penney’s locations as well), and at Ulta. It’s a liquid, in a small bottle with an applicator brush that can be used as a lip stain or blush- there is also a more portable tube, with gloss in one end. This is a lighter, more transparent product with excellent staying power (better than that of any of the lip-stains now available in drug stores).
My choice would be to get the Bene-tint. It shows, but doesn’t look like “too much” and won’t interfere with her playing at all. The cost is about $25 but should last for a year! My D’s advice (and she was a flutist who competed quite a bit) is not to wear any at all- you paid a lot for the instrument and don’t want to ruin it with “gunk”!</p>
<p>My wife, who teaches flute at the college level and plays professionally, would agree with Mezzo’sMama’s D. In the nearly thirty years I have known her, I have never once seen her play any woodwind instrument while wearing lipstick. (She also plays recorders, tin whistle and all manner of early winds.) She will also brush her teeth and floss meticulously before picking up an instrument if she has had anything other than water since the last time she played. When finished playing, she takes about 10 minutes cleaning her flute before putting it away, even if she had only played a few notes. I once asked her if all that was necessary and she launched into the speech she gives all her new students about how hard it is to find a good instrument and how easy it is to ruin one through lack of care and proper maintenance.</p>
<p>If she were ever in a situation where she absolutely had to wear lipstick while playing, she would probably only use her $30 garage sale flute and one of the $2 plastic recorders that they give third graders.</p>
<p>Wow, you cannot beat this board for nuts-and-bolts practical information.</p>
<p>DD plays flute and picc. No lipstick and she fastidiously brushes teeth and mouth before playing and performing.</p>
<p>I have to agree with the others, any kind of wind or brass instrument you would be better off not wearing anything on the lips while playing. Unless the stuff is like polyurethane varnish I doubt it will not come off, and especially for reed based instruments (double reeds doubly worse, considering the agony they go over on building reeds and such!) it is going to cause problems. I loitered in front of a clarinet for 10 years or so in school, and almost anything on the lips got into the reed and generally ruined them. I can’t speak of lipcolor and playing (would have raised questions in my day about a boy wearing lipcolor <em>lol</em>) but a few times when I had chapped lips and stupidly used lip balm or had eaten lunch and then played or even had drank soda just before playing, it generally wreaked havoc with my reeds. And if something ‘gets downstream’ it can get on the pads, which could cause real issues because you can’t really clean them if something gets on them. A Brass player might be more rugged in terms of handling foreign matter, but I still wouldn’t recommend having anything on when playing.</p>
<p>Eh, I think brass players would still look at you like you had a second head if you were wearing lipstick to play.</p>
<p>OK you know what everyone, I suspect mtpaper’s D has a very specific reason for asking, like maybe she has an important photo shoot just before playing somewhere.
And I bet she will try out the product well in advance and not use it at all if there is any chance of harming the flute.</p>
<p>Yes, I highly recommend trying out the product well in advance … one of those tinting brands caused my lips to peel like I had a sunburn, but the color did try to stay on! There are different chemicals in the lipsticks that have a tint in them, so do try them before an important event. If she is just wearing lipstick for a photo shoot before or after playing, then I would recommend a normal (non-tinting) brand that can be dabbed off with a tissue and then re-applied as need for looking good; less new chemicals, more moisturizers.</p>
<p>D had to lip-lock with a baritone last year in act I without leaving a trace of lipstick into act II. She used Max Factor Lipfinity to great effect.( I’m enjoying this thread immensely.)</p>
<p>The music world is hilarious.Last spring D got the comments from judges at a competition. One judge: “Great sound, but I would rethink that shade of lipstick.” WUH??</p>