Monday afternoons – they’re all the same right? Wrong. So wrong. Last Monday afternoon was unlike any other Monday afternoon I’d encountered before (shall I just keep saying Monday afternoon?) It’s the time I traditionally plough through my 2800 unopened emails and mountains of post, quietly considering the likelihood of being able to conspicuously neck the tiny bottles of Baileys and Jagermeister I’d amassed in my filing cabinet-meets-shoe storage to get me through it. No, this Monday afternoon was unlike any other Monday afternoon that I’d had before - because it was the day I finally I met ‘the one.’ And I didn’t even believe in the one…

It had been such a long time coming though. I’d flirted with so many others, over the space of the last decade and each one a seminal let-down. Some were flaky and lame, some a tad derivative, and some were even deceptive at times. The pursuit was becoming wearisome beyond belief. Because who has time for all of this drama this when you’re three seasons behind in Nashville? (Nobody that’s who!) But it just ‘happened’ – like everyone annoyingly said it would. And after years searching for my perfect match, I’ve learned that you should never to judge a book by its cover. I’d always gone for the smarter, well-presented types that stood out in the crowd. But I missed a trick, because a slightly garish exterior gave way to the most amazing suitor I’ve ever had – I think we were made for each other, if I’m honest.

That suitor, is Cherry Blossom – the most unfathomably brilliant red lipstick I’ve ever tried. Sounding like a character from Riverdale, this lipstick by US brand Coloured Raine did what no other long-wear red lipsticks have done before – delivered a hit of stay-put colour in the ultimate deep, rich bloody red – the kind that looks like pureed raspberries or fake blood in bad horror b-movies. The kind of red that looks both classic Hollywood and vampiric simultaneously. As an avid red wearer, collector and coveter (at one point I had 60 red lipsticks, now reduced to a more sane 20) I know this is going to be long-term relationship. Cherry Blossom (unlike my untoward Tinder dates) is undeniably ‘the one.’

The true test is the amount of real-life comments I’ve had about it (editor Susan even stopped a features meeting to ask where it was from) and I’d lost count of the number of Instagram comments asking what it is and ‘why it looks sooooo velvety?’ It is, without a sliver of doubt, the best long-lasting red lipstick I’ve ever encountered, and frankly this might have well been a feature about dating – because I have to say, I’m undeniably betrothed to this lipstick, pretty much ‘till death do us both part. There’s no room in my heart for any others.

Images: Unsplash / Instagram