Lipstick and Load Montage

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

The Distaff Counterpart of the Lock and Load Montage. The heroine puts on her makeup and clothes while preparing for the Big Event. The key to the trope is that she's being just as methodical and serious as a soldier - she's all business, and her business at the moment is looking good.

Often juxtaposed with a standard Lock and Load Montage. A Femme Fatale might even do both simultaneously.

Female examples of this trope, as of so many other Always Female tropes, may be Fetish Fuel. The rare examples of a male doing this tend to be Played for Laughs.

No real life examples, please; Real Life does not have montages.

Examples of Lipstick and Load Montage include:


Comic Books

Film

Literature

  • In the Daughters of the Moon series, (at least in the first two) before the big showdown against the Atrox, there's a sequence of the main character putting on beautiful clothes and makeup—but rather justified in the first, Goddess of the Night, because the character is 1. Going to a club, and oughta look good anyway, and 2. Describes it as battle paint—the psychological preparation is as important as anything else.

Live Action TV

  • Belle in opening credits for Secret Diary of a Call Girl.
  • On Chuck Sarah often does both simultaneously.
  • Played for Laughs with Tim's 'getting ready for the disco' montage in The Goodies episode "Saturday Night Grease".
  • The opening credits of Lingerie Football League.
  • Sherlock: Irene Adler goes through one as she is waiting for Sherlock to arrive in "A Scandal in Belgravia". Juxtaposed with Sherlock's own, more unorthodox, preparations, which involve getting Watson to punch him in the face.

Manga and Anime

Mythology

  • The Canaanite goddess Anat is said to do this. She anoints herself with henna and ambergris, puts on saffron and murex (purple) clothing...and then proceeds to slaughter her brother Ba'al's enemies so badly and messily she wades up to her thighs in the blood and gore. While laughing. Then she cleans herself off and reapplies.

Newspaper Comics

  • Done in a FoxTrot Sunday strip that apparently shows Paige putting on her make-up getting ready to go out. The last panel reveals it to actually be a grounded Peter trying to sneak out of the house disguised as Paige.

Web Comics

Web Original

Western Animation

Real Life

  • Ask any salesperson about their morning routine.