This is Product of the Week – a weekly round-up of the Dazed Beauty team and wider community’s must-have buys.
WHAT IS IT?
Brand: Isamaya Beauty
Product: LIPS Colour Infusion Lipstick
Price: £80
WHY SHOULD I CARE?
This won’t be for everyone, and that’s OK – if you like your lipstick in the non-dick variety, go ahead and take your pick from the thousands of options available out there. But not everything has to be serious all the time, and it’s good to revel in silliness every now and then. “Sometimes things that are the most basic and obvious are the funniest. That’s what humour is all about,” says Isamaya Ffrench. “What connects people more than humour? If the fashion industry can play within that space, then why can’t beauty?”
Following the launch of her beauty brand, Isamaya Beauty, with its inaugural BDSM-themed collection and the follow-up rhinestone cowboy range, the make-up artist has dropped her third collection, and this time it’s a pair of lipsticks shaped like penises. Coming in two shades, a vivid red and a glossy, sheer black, the lipsticks are housed in heavy metal packaging that is refillable (which is good considering the product’s high price point). You can also remove the lipstick altogether to transform the penis into an objet d’art. An unspecified amount of proceeds from the lipstick will also be donated to Planned Parenthood to support its mission of sexual and reproductive health care across the US.
Sex has always been intrinsically linked to the way we do our make-up and the way the industry advertises products. Yves Saint Laurent used it to sell perfume, Francois Nars used it to sell blush, Tom Ford used it to sell lipstick, Too Faced used it to sell mascara. But despite the efforts of sexual liberation movements and recent body positivity campaigns, culture seems to be in a bit of a sex recession at the moment. Young people are reportedly having less sex than ever, while in Hollywood sex scenes have seen a big decline. Clearly, as a society, we still have a ways to go before we are free of our sexual hangups.
“The taboo around sex is so outdated and so are beauty industry standards, which is why we see variations of the same product launched day-in-day-out,” says Ffrench. “I said from the beginning that I wanted to redefine the beauty space with Isamaya Beauty and that’s what I’m doing.” After all, she says, “who doesn't need a big chrome cock in their lives?”
QUICKFIRE QUESTIONS
If this product was a song it would be... “O Mio Babbino Caro”
If I went back in time, I would give this product to... Maria Callas
If this product was a film it would be... La Dolce Vita
The fictional character who would use this product is... Alex from Clockwork Orange
