'Lipstick' tints careers

0 Comments | USA TODAY, February, 2008 | by Donna Freydkin

NEW YORK -- Sometimes, it really does come down to having that perfect pucker.

Just ask Brooke Shields and Kim Raver, two of the stars of NBC's drama Lipstick Jungle, premiering Thursday (10 ET/PT). On screen, they're two of a trio of girlfriends juggling business and pleasure in the big city. Off-screen, they look out for each other just as much.

On a Wednesday afternoon in a crowded room on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Shields touches up her mascara as an assistant holds up a hand mirror. Shields, in a flowing blue, diamond-encrusted frock, finishes off her lashes and announces, to no one in particular: "This is what we forgot. The bottom ones."

Raver, who has known Shields since high school, asks whether she's keeping her coat on for a scene. She...