Awkward Issa Rae lipstick ad could be an episode from her comedy series Insecure | Culture

Actress Issa Rae is in true form in her CoverGirl cosmetics spot.

We encounter Rae sitting at a bar in a dark club running pickup lines to someone sitting beside her. The dialogue could be from an episode of her smash HBO comedy-drama series Insecure. The series is based on The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, the YouTube web series that debuted in 2011 and the book of the same name that was published in 2015, both loosely based on her life experiences. Rae plays an awkward 20-something professional living in South Los Angeles who takes you along on her misadventures. The CoverGirl ad is a parody on Rae’s character Issa Dee who can often be seen fantasizing in front of the mirror on the show.

The camera glides over her golden nails and shimmery cocoa skin. Her eyes pop, and she smiles.

As if someone was looking back at her, the camera zooms in on her 24 Carat lips radiating in the dim light; she glances down. Her fingers wrap each other for security. She’s funny AF. And she speaks to the audience the brand is trying to reach.

No you look good too. No, I’m serious. You look good. Almost as good as me.
(The camera moves in on her lips. She laughs.)
I have a couch at home and it has your name on it. Our name.
What’s your name?
I could just eat you up.
And I’m hungry.
(She laughs that contentious laugh that her Insecure character does with her upper body, including the crinkled nose.)
You’re…hehe, you’re so funny.
(This is where you start to wonder who she’s talking to, if anyone at all.)
No, you stop flirting with me. You started it.
I’m gonna finish it.
How ’bout you stop moving these lips — and we start movin’ these lips?
(She kisses the air with her 24 Carat gold lips.)
Yeah.

The camera moves back and Issa smiles and waves into the mirror beside her. At the bottom of the screen it says, “Issa Rae. Writer, Actress, Smooth Talker.”

The ad is called The Pickup. These lines are definitely smooth and awkwardly funny in a “black girl magic”, retro geek-girl on the prowl sort of way. If you don’t get it, hang in there, eventually you will – or, just don’t worry about it.

CoverGirl introduces Sunday Blue to the stockpile of seven other colours: Platinum Card, Amped, FrontRow, Unplugged, Extra, Banger, and 24 Carat, for a limited time. The Melting Pout Metallics Liquid Lipsticks collection also includes MicDrop and Mayhem.

by Cherryl Bird – Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Twitter @ladycbird | Instagram @cherrylbird