Q & A - WITH RABBI RISKIN
Question:
Is it permissible to use lipstick on Shabbat?
Answer:
Let’s start with the positive side: it is permissible to use powder makeup on Shabbat since the purpose of the powder is to be absorbed into the skin, which presents no problem. The same applies to moisturizing cream.
On the negative side, the ‘melakha’ of spreading (me’moreakh) means creating a new surface; coloring is likewise prohibited. Since the use of lipstick on Shabbat may involve both of these prohibitions, its application may cause a woman to transgress two negative commandments, and is therefore prohibited according to most decisors.
Nevertheless, my revered teacher, Rav Soloveitchik ztz”l, permitted the use of lipstick on Shabbat when all three of the following conditions were present:
a. The woman would be pained by its absence, causing some of her ‘oneg shabbat’ (enjoyment of Shabbat) to be lost;
b. If she applied lipstick on Shabbat morning, when there still remained on her lips some lipstick from the application before Shabbat. Hence the Shabbat application would not constitute the creation of an entirely new surface;
c. The lipstick would be applied with a “shinui” – i.e., in a manner different from usual, with one’s left hand (if one usually does it with one’s right hand).
