Let's start off with some obvious thoughts: Makeup is a pain in the buns.
Note that I am not saying it isn't necessary. It is an aid to make us girls look better. It enhances a certain amount of natural beauty…and that it can allow you to
feel better looking, which in turn can allow you feel better about yourself.
Also note that it will notmake you better looking. It will help somewhat, but the sad truth is that if you are as ugly as a mud hut, chances are that you'll still look
ugly as a mud hut…but with makeup on. (and yes, sugah…Little Miss Mercury has had weeks where no amount of makeup has helped her look any better than
she does.)
But back to the original thought: Makeup is a pain in the buns. You have to use it daily to get good at applying it. I wear a little bit every day; usually eye shadow,
mascara, a light foundation, and blush.
Let's start with eye makeup. You have to be careful with mascara; one slip and you're having to wipe an excess amount of goo off your eyelid, eyebrow, cheek or
wherever. If you've used a concealer stick, you'll have to start all over. Eye shadow has to applied carefully-you really don't want any of that in your eyes.
Foundation and blusher…now there's an experiment in applied makeup. Too dark a foundation, and look you have a decidedly precancerous look about you. Too light
a foundation, and you look like you have been hanging out with Danny Phantom, Casper, or Beetlejuice. (Have you ever noticed that nobody comes up to you
and says, “My, what a great pale you have?”) The same applies for blush. If you get too light a color, it looks like you aren't wearing any. Too dark, and you look like a
toy soldier. And trying to get your foundation and blush to work well together can be difficult sometimes.
Lipstick, lipgloss-gets all over everything. Apply too much, and you leave lip prints all over. Not enough, and you get that tired look. We won't even discuss colors.
Just how many shades of pink are there, for heaven's sake?
So why? Why do we wear the stuff? Why do we spend somewhere around $7 Billion dollars a year (give or take a few bucks, and NOT counting cosmetic surgery)
on face paint?
Simple. We want to look our best. And looking our best as women requires makeup, no way around that little factoid. It requires mascara, eye shadow, and everything
listed above and them some. It requires hours of primping, preening, and getting it done right to look alluring, sexy…and feminine.
And looking as well as feeling feminine is what it's all about.
This is why I recommend a good brand of makeup, when all is said and done. I use Shiseido; I know others use Sephora, M*A*C, Almay, Chanel…the list seems
endless. I won't even talk Avon or Mary Kay; I don't know anyone who pushes sells either brand, and even if I did, I am not sure I'd be too comfortable buying it. (After
all…The Momma was an Avon Lady.) Yes, I know many of these brands are expensive. Good makeup can be expensive. I can drop $150-$200 a pop at the Shiseido
counter for a handful of items without blinking. (Granted, I have to save a small bit out of each paycheck to cover the cost, but like the L'oreal ad says…I'm worth it.)
Some people balk at the prices for makeup, and rightfully so. Why pay all that hard earned cash for something I can get for far less?
Because, my dears, in the long run you get what you pay for.
This is why, if you are just getting started or in need of something NOW because you're out, I recommend you use Cover Girl. I don't recommend it for use forever;
you can do better than that. But, I also know what it's like to live on a budget. And that means sometimes you don't have a lot of money for things like makeup and
so forth that you can only wear a little bit every so often. And because yes Virginia, makeup does go bad, if you don't have a lot of money to spend, cheap stuff is
better than nothing.
For in the end, as big as a pain as makeup can be, it is another way to become just a bit more feminine, if only a bit, and onlyfor a bit.
