Traditional style tattoo of a red lipstick with orange and blue flowers and green leaves on a forearm.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Lipstick and flowers on a forearm

Traditional · Forearm · Colour · Photo

A red lipstick with a grey case and gold band sits above two bold flowers, one orange and one blue, with green leaves around them. Small black dash marks above the lipstick suggest a sparkle. Thick outlines, flat solid fills and saturated colour are typical of the traditional style, shown against plain skin and a white background.

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Win,

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The lipstick came up out of the bilge on Tuesday, wrapped in a bread bag and tied with bailer twine, which tells you who had it last. Mr Pardoe swears it was his mother's. I said nobody's mother kept lipstick that red on a working boat, and he laughed so hard he had to sit down on the cratch board.

We are moored at Cowley Lock now, the Ellen Dawn and the Juniper tied up behind us, and the lock-keeper's wife has been bringing round jam tarts since she heard about the find. Everybody has an opinion. The case is grey with a gold band, dented on one side as if someone stood on it. Pardoe wants to give it to the chandler's. I want to keep it.

Last night I sat on the back deck with the paraffin lamp and tried it on, which I know is daft at my age. The colour came out redder than I expected, like a fire lit in a tin. The flowers painted on the cabin roof were the orange ones Dad used to paint on the bow of his boat, and the blue ones that look like someone pressed a bruise into the water. You'd have laughed at me.

I've decided to take the boat to Brentford at the weekend. Bring your good coat. I'll put the lipstick in the drawer with the brass keys, and when you come we'll go up to the Bell together and I'll wear it, and you can tell me it's too bright.

Love, Nell

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