IV--LIPS
The mouth is the centre of woman's beauty. To the lips the glance is
attracted the moment she approaches, and their shape remains in the
memory longest. Curve, colour, and substance are the three essentials of
the lips, but these are nothing without mobility, the soul of the mouth.
If neither sculpture, nor the palette with its varied resources, can
convey the spell of perfect lips, how can it be done in black letters of
ink only? Nothing is so difficult, nothing so beautiful. There are lips
which have an elongated curve (of the upper one), ending with a slight
curl, like a ringlet at the end of a tress, like those tiny wavelets on a
level sand which float in before the tide, or like a frond of fern
unrolling. In this curl there lurks a smile, so that she can scarcely
open her mouth without a laugh, or the look of one. These upper lips are
drawn with parallel lines, the verge is defined by two lines near
together, enclosing the narrowest space possible, which is ever so
faintly less coloured than the substance of the lip. This makes the mouth
appear larger than it really is; the bow, too, is more flattened than in
the pure Greek lip. It is beautiful, but not perfect, tempting,
mischievous, not retiring, and belongs to a woman who is never long
alone.
Pages:
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253