The 2LoveMyLips gloss is available in five different "seductive" colors. On the website, the product is described as "sasy (sic) zestful two-in-one lip plumping breath freshening lip gloss, cleverly packaged to include a drink spike detector testing kit!" Tracy Whittaker, managing director of 2LoveMy, says that the date rape kit is easy to use and requires only a single drop of the suspicious drink. "If they turn blue tell your friends immediately and get help from security and the police," she said.

The website describes the design more fully. It seems like the gloss is not actually attached to the drug testing strip, but instead comes with a separate card inside the box. In their mission statement, 2LoveMy explains:

Our primary goal is to promote 2 LOVE MY LIPS as a fashionable brand with a distinctive logo that is easily recognisable to women within our target age group of 16 to 50.

2 LOVE MY LIPS aims to bring safety and beauty to the finger tips of women of all ages. A revolutionary female concept, where women's beauty and safety blend together so transparently that the customer buys beauty and acquires safety almost subliminally.

Something about this rubs me the wrong way. It is great that they want to help women avoid creepy rapist assholes, but it seems a little odd that this is marketed as the merger of beauty and safety. Whittaker says she hopes to sell the gloss in vending machines and bar toilets, the very places, Cosmetics Design notes, that women will need it most. This just seems like an obnoxious way to sell their lip gloss to scared women, who are forced to buy their pricey ($16 plus tax!) product when what they really want is a way to tell whether or not they are in immediate physical danger. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but given all the restrictions stated on their website (you cannot use the test with wine, most fruit juices, and the test does not detect Rohypnol), it may just give women a false sense of safety while promoting sales of yet another beauty product we don't really need. In fact, the best thing about 2LoveMyLips is a paragraph on the company's website that advises women to buy their own drinks, throw out any beverages that have been left unattended, and trust their own instincts. But if we do all that, what's the use of the lip gloss?

Date Rape-Preventing Lip Gloss Debuts [Cosmetics Design]
2LoveMyLips [Official Site]

The other day I was talking with a friend who said she had a problem. "Not a big problem, but it's bothering me." She explained that she frequents a 24-hour market near her apartment and that lately the guy who works there has been making her uncomfortable. "I think I was just too friendly," she said. She added that she felt guilty. "He's nice; it's not threatening; I even think he's married - it's just a lot of 'I've missed your pretty smile,' and 'you haven't been in this week' — and I kind of dread going in there!" I knew exactly what she meant. But when I tried to explain the situation to a male friend, he looked at me blankly. "Does he insult her?" No. "Is he inappropriate?" Not exactly. "He's just being friendly? What's the problem." The 'problem' of course, is that as women we're vulnerable in ways guys can't appreciate. Sure, they can comprehend that catcalling is offensive and that pervs rubbing against you on the subway is disgusting. But they can't understand the smaller things you need to guard against, day in and day out, that you can't be too friendly, because it just leaves you...open.

My friend's situation with the shop owner is a case in point. It can be hard to explain the complexity of a dynamic in which you just feel slightly intruded upon: in a word, uncomfortable. I've stopped going to delis and stores because of things like this; once or twice I even asked a male friend to go in with me which, sadly, always seems to put an end to it. In none of these cases was the guy in question rude or vulgar or even predatory — it's not like having to brush off a creep at a bar or something — but there was always an excessive interest and a certain lack of boundaries probably only women are aware of. An insinuating look, an overly-long glance, a significant smile can be enough to make a trip to the store a daily ordeal.

When you're a naturally friendly person, learning these lessons can be hard. Another friend said she made the mistake of trying out her Russian on a neighbor who lives downstairs and now she feels they have an uncomfortable rapport. In the same situations where my brother can laugh and joke and flirt, I need to stay reserved and controlled — pleasant, of course, but always a little bit remote. He might enjoy the attention; for the most part, as a woman, I'd rather fly under the radar. I'd like to say this is a function of urban living, but sadly it can be true anywhere. And, no, as problems go, it's not a huge one —certainly not on a level with real harassment or danger. But it is a hard-to-explain reality of being a woman that men can't understand and we can't avoid.