It’s been awhile since I’ve loved reading a magazine article so much that I dog-eared it to share with all my girlfriends, but April Long’s article — “Red Badge of Sexy”– for the July 2009 issue of Elle had me tagging, highlighting, and underlining. The overall jist is this — red lips are back. Big time. And women shouldn’t be deterred from searching for the perfect crimson shade. As Long infers, “Maybe it’s the influence of Mad Men, in which office siren Joan Holloway’s flaming red hair and red lipstick combo jumps from the screen like the last word in sex appeal, or perhaps there’s something to the oft-cited theory that when the economy hits a rough patch, women instinctively reach for a little mood-lifting war paint.” Her article then goes on to take the reader through the History of Red Lips 101. Some of my favorite facts:

• “The first known lip-painting kit (complete with color-imparting crushed red rocks) was found in the 5,000-year-old tomb of Queen Schub-ad at Ur.”
• “Egyptian women adorned their pouts with a salubrious concoction of henna, pulverized beetles, and ants, which was deemed so essential they packed a to-go palette for the afterlife.”
• “Elizabeth I and the ladies of her court powdered their faces a ghostly white so that their crimson mouths – stained with a coat of poisonous mercuric sulfide – appeared more dramatic.”
• “Even prim, makeup-eschewing Victorians smooched red crepe paper in hopes that the tint would transfer to their lips.”
• “[In the 1940s], the U.S. Director of Economic Stabilization ordered factories to provide [red lipstick] in ladies’ powder rooms in order to boost productivity.”

If hearing about generations of women’s devotion to the crimson pout has you thinking you might want to try it out this fall, here is Long’s list of the Top 10 Reds:

• Max Factor Vivid Impact Lipcolor in Ms. Right, $10; a bold blue-red
• Laura Mercier Creme Lip Color in Mistress, $22: a Mad Med on-set favorite
• Chanel Rouge Allure in Lover, $30; a creamy, cool-toned red
• MAC Ruby-Woo, $14; the Cure’s Robert Smith swears by it
• Shiseido Valentine, $25: a glossy coral
• YSL Rouge Volupte in Red Muse, $34: the YSL catwalk color for fall ‘09
• NARS Jungle Red, $24: retro true-red inspired by the 1939 film The Women
• Guerlain Rouge G in Gala, $45: a classic crimson in a luxe jewel-box-like case
• Revlon Fire and Ice, $8: a favorite since it’s launch in 1952
• Maybelline Color Sensational in Red Revival, $7: the star of the brand’s new 48-color collection

**I would definitely add MAC’s Russian Red, $14, to the list. It’s a beautiful “true red” that I have found compliments nearly every skintone. Additionally, my best friend absolutely loves Laura Mercier’s Lip Stain in Scarlet, $20. She says she feel glamorous every time she puts it on.

In Long’s article, she quotes Mad Men makeup department head Debbie Zoller as saying, “So many actresses sit in my chair and say, ‘I can’t wear red,’ I say, ‘Let me prove you wrong,’ Everyone can wear it; you just have to find the right shade.” Zoller’s shade-finding tip? “[B]londs are best with true reds or reds with blue undertones, brunettes should go with true red or coral, and redheads can do either coral or blue.”

So go on! Try some red lipstick! Generations of women dare you …

Images: Imaxtree, Elle.com, Elle Magazine