Last week's hard freeze has been followed by several days of Indian summer, and the deciduous trees have "bloomed" into fall colors seemingly overnight. Around our neighborhood, the most-of-the-year-drab burning bushes (Euonymus alata) are finally redeeming themselves. How to describe the color? A strong pink, just shy of a red, not tipping over into magenta, infused with a matte, almost chalky coral undertone. (Yeah, yeah...a picture's worth a thousand words.) All I know is that it would be a fabulous color for lipstick or nail polish. Of course, nothing gets on the cosmetics shelves these days without a just-so name. Take, for example, these specimens from my moldering collection of MAC lipsticks, courtesy of a girls'-day-out shopping spree a few years ago: "Diva". "Rebel". "X-S". "Underworld". And my personal favorite, "Smoove". (The color doesn't do much for me, but the name put me in stitches.)
By these standards, "Euonymus" probably doesn't cut it. How about..."Hue Ominous"?
(Sorry.)
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