Make-up Your Mind

Last spring I was perfectly content with my make-up routine. I didn't have one. When I did gussy up, I was happy with my Mary Kay and my Cover Girl and my no-name products. Then I looked at the MK foundation and decided the color wasn't right. Hmm. A few years ago I went to the Clinique counter, I thought. Maybe I should do that again. Well. You can guess what happened. Turns out I also needed this, that, and that. But what the heck. I'm worth it.

Then my daughter introduced me to Sephora. For those not in the know, Sephora is a veritable candy store of cosmetics, with everything you could want and a lot you don't really need. What makes it dangerous is that you can sample everything. I've walked out of there with rainbow eye shadows and ten fingernails in ten different colors. (Sephora by O.P.I. nail lacquer, but that‘s a post in itself). Of course I had to get makeup brushes, since I had only cheap ones. And the sample set of mascara, with ten different small tubes inside. And, oh, why not, the palette of 60 eyeshadows. I will not say how much I spent, but let's just say that they consider me a Very Important Beauty Insider.

So now my routine has changed drastically, when I have time to primp and preen. Currently I:

Put on foundation primer, to prepare it for the foundation and perfect the skin (isn’t that what foundation is
     supposed to do?)
Apply foundation with a brush
Pat on concealer on those dark undereye circles
Dust on loose powder, to set the foundation in place. (isn’t primer supposed to help with this?)
Check watch. Yikes! All this, and I still have to get dressed and curl my hair

Put on eyeshadow primer
Apply eyeshadow - three complementary shades, with a brush
Apply eyeliner, in a neutral shade, or, for fun, a bright color
Brush on blush
Mascara: one coat of volumizing, one coat of lenghthening. (did you know you’re supposed to use 2 types of
      mascara? Until recently, neither did I).
Pencil in the eyebrows
Check watch again. Run around the house getting everything else ready for the day.

Finally, apply lipstick. And don't forget to clean the makeup brushes

Is it worth it? Damn right it is. It makes me feel good. I smile at myself in the mirror, instead of making faces. And I’ve gotten compliments. Bless you, those who have said I look younger, or that I've lost weight.. I should make time for it every day, instead of sleeping until the last possible moment. After all, as Laura Bennett, former Project Runway contestant, advises, "Never go out looking less than fabulous. You never know when you'll meet your next husband."