Linda Rodin, the coolest senior in the beauty biz, launches 5 killer lipsticks

Life goal: to be as cool as Linda Rodin when we grow up. The super stylish, silver-haired 67-year-old is primarily known for her oil-based skincare line, Olio Lusso and we’ve made it no secret that we adore her; she was featured in one of our fashion shoots in May 2014 (see image above), and we also snooped the contents of her bag during a quick stop in Toronto that same year. The smart people at Estée Lauder also recognized her cachet and acquired her brand just over a year ago. Now backed by some seriously deep pockets, Rodin is expanding into lipstick this spring (sign up for pre-order here), something she’s thought about for many years.

“I wear lipstick everyday,” she said when we met in December, her mouth boldly done in a gorgeous shade of violet berry, wearing a nubby coat by Shrimps, charcoal sweater, jeans and silver Prada boots. “It just seemed like if I was going to wear it, I might as well make one instead of buying other people’s.” And she knew exactly what she wanted in terms of texture (“creamy but not glossy”), packaging (“I love Lucite. I think it’s just a ’70s thing”) and especially the shades (she even named one after her silver poodle, Winks).

Click through to read about each one.

Photography by Carlo Mendoza

Photography by Carlo Mendoza

Photography by Carlo Mendoza

Photography by Carlo Mendoza

Photography by Carlo Mendoza

1/5

linda rodin lipstick

“I love Hedy Lamarr movies. I was looking at pictures of her one day and saw her wearing this incredible red lipstick. She had brains and beauty though; she developed a detector for Nazi torpedos.”

Rodin Luxury Lipstick in “Red Hedy” ($38, oliolusso.com)

2/5

linda rodin lipstick

“That’s because I’m tough. That was also an expression during the ’50s when I was growing up. I was a real tough tomato. I remember my father saying that.”

Rodin Luxury Lipstick in “Tough Tomato” ($38, oliolusso.com)

3/5

linda rodin lipstick

“I’ve worn hot pink for years, so I really wanted to do one. I wanted to call it ‘Winky Pinky’ but somebody already had that name.”

Rodin Luxury Lipstick in “Winks” ($38, oliolusso.com)

4/5

linda rodin lipstick

“I decided to make a nude, because so many young girls and blondes want it. I do wear it sometimes and people say ‘Do you feel ok?’. It’s greyish, nudish, pinkish. It’s what I wore in the ’60’s with my go-go boots.”

Rodin Luxury Lipstick in “So Mod” ($38, oliolusso.com)

5/5

linda rodin lipstick

“I have about 30 hours of home video of my mother on a bicycle riding down the street and she’s wearing this colour.”

Rodin Luxury Lipstick in “Billie on the Bike” ($38, oliolusso.com)