Homegrown Lipstick Fruit - Organic Cosmetics in Moorea

While visiting the French Polynesian island of Mo’orea recently, I was introduced to the “homegrown lipstick fruit” that grows on the island. This spiny red fruit has hard red seeds that are can be used as a spice as well as in industrial dyes. It has also been known to be used for indigenous body painting.

My local guide, Patrick, plucked one from a small tree, slashed it open, told me if I rubbed the seeds with my fingers, then swiped them across my lips, it would have basically the same effect as lipstick.

I didn’t have a mirror and didn’t want to spend the rest of the day looking like I’d just escaped from a circus, so I filed it away on my to-do list of features for my next home, along with cisterns, solar panels, and personal windmills.

No, I’m not a green/environmental extremist, although I do think we should all strive to be good stewards of our planet.

I’m a libertarian, and I despise unnecessary government interference in my life. I’m warming up to the idea of going off the grid, to the extent possible without sacrificing my guilty pleasures.

I think all these things would work together perfectly well…. in a house on a sunny Mexican beach.

Stay tuned – it may happen sooner than anyone thinks!