STYLE : LOOKS : Quest for Fire

Red lipsticks have been bestsellers for decades: Revlon’s Fire & Ice, Cherries in the Snow and Love That Red, all shades from the early ‘50s, are still going strong. Their timeless popularity, in fact, inspires other companies to launch would-be classics each season. This year, Chanel has two new shades--the less-opaque Soft Red, debuting this month, and the recently reformulated sheer Garnet, with a sun protection factor of 8. And Alexandra de Markoff plans a fall line in which eight lipsticks are variations of red.

Devotees of red say other colors pale in comparison. “Wearing red lips forces you to have a certain attitude, in the same way as when you wear high heels instead of flats,” says designer Paloma Picasso, who has worn her trademark red lipstick for more than 20 years. It’s no surprise that when she started her own makeup company, Mon Rouge was the only color she offered--and still is.

Many people consider Mon Rouge the ultimate red, but there are other strong contenders. Madonna likes M.A.C.’s matte Russian Red, and rumor has it that she also fancies Christian Dior’s Indian Red. Murder-mystery fans may want to try YSL’s No. 6. It isn’t new, but a tube of it will serve as a crucial piece of evidence in the upcoming erotic whodunit “Traces of Red,” starring Lorraine Bracco.