Pucker Up! The Secret To Kissable Lips

To Casablanca’s Bogie and Bergman, perhaps a kiss is just a kiss, but many experts disagree. The next time you lock lips, here are a few fun facts to consider:

The History.

The word came from Old English cyssan, meaning “to kiss,” in turn, from coss, “a kiss.” There aren’t many records of kissing in the Western world until the days of the Roman Empire. Romans used kisses to greet friends and family members. Citizens kissed their rulers’ hands. And naturally, people kissed their romantic partners. The Romans even came up with three different categories for kissing:

Osculum was a kiss on the cheek
Basium was a kiss on the lips
Savolium was a deep kiss

The Anatomy.

Kissing uses a total of 34 facial muscles and 112 postural muscles. The most important muscle involved is the orbicularis oris muscle, which is used to pucker the lips and is informally known as the kissing muscle.

The Psychology.

German physicians say that those who kiss their spouses each morning before leaving for work miss less work because of illness than those who do not. They also have fewer auto accidents on the way to work, earn 20-30 percent more per month and live approximately 5 years longer.

The Culture.

About 90 percent of the world’s population kisses, but there are cultures even today that are not big on kissing. In AVENE Cold Cream Lip CreamChina, for example, a similar expression of affection consists of rubbing one’s nose against the cheek of another person. In South East Asian countries, the “sniff kiss” is the most common form of showing affection. In Africa, many people are not even familiar with kissing, as is also the case with Malays, indigenous Australians and other tribes.

The Workout.

Rev up your metabolism! Depending on the intensity of the passion, kissing can burn up to 2 to 6 calories a minute.

The Wedding.

In ancient Rome, couples became betrothed by kissing passionately in front of a group of people. This is probably one reason why modern couples kiss at the end of wedding ceremonies.

Now that you are a kissing expert, you have to make sure your lips are in tip-top shape for a serious smooch with your Valentine’s Day sweetheart. For that, all you have to do is remember the 3 S’s of truly kissable lips: Soft, Smooth and Supple. And with Avène, you need only one product — the NEW Cold Cream Lip Cream.