sasabeni the moon

I was fortunate enough to have a lovely chat to author Lesley Downer earlier this week, author of The Last Concubine, among other delightful works. Something which came up in our chat was the practice of 'sasabeni' (笹紅: bamboo rouge) a shimmering lip lacquer with an iridescent greeny tint, which was applied to the bottom lip by exquisitely dressed ladies in the late Edo period. We wondered whether the trend had originated in the court, the aristocracy or in the infamous Yoshiwara...

This moon has a touch of sasabeni about it.