On Makeup

Today I'm writing to tell you about my saga with makeup in the last year.


It's been up.


It's been down.


My makeup adventure in the last year or so has unfortunately had a few more downs than ups!


First off, a personality trait of mine is that I like to look nice.  I like to look very well put-together and just as nice as possible, every day, even if I don't have anywhere to go.  This makes me feel good.....and I love to see my husband with "that look" in his eyes.  You know the look....if you'll grant me permission to say it....like he wants to gobble me up! I LOVE that. That's probably the biggest reason I like to look nice.  I love it when he flirts with  me and tells me I'm the sexiest gal anywhere or that I have it goin' on! Folks, we've been married nearly 20 years and he still thinks I'm hot and pretty and beautiful....that's pretty special!


And makeup, for me, has a LOT to do with looking nice.


I really do like makeup.  I'm not a Makeup Fanatic, by any means, and I'm not a Makeup Expert! I don't have a tackle box full of makeup in my bathroom.  This reminds me of a blog I recently saw.  The gal was talking about getting rid of some makeup and I was astonished to see that she was getting rid of at least 5 TUBES of mascara! HOLY COW! That's a LOT of mascara! And that was JUST the mascara.  She had at least 10 different eyeliners and at least that many shadow pallettes that she was also tossing out........by jinks, I don't even have days enough in the week to wear all of that makeup, let alone space in my teeny bathroom!


Anyway, so I like makeup.  I find that I like it more as I get older and feel a bit more, well, I guess "sassy".  I like to wear makeup every single day.  I love to go into the bathroom and see the makeup sitting there.  I love it when my girls go in and just look at it and talk in hushed, conspiratorial tones about how they can't wait to be such-and-such an age so they can wear makeup.  I love it when they come in while I'm putting on makeup and just watch me, and their eyes get big as saucers and, when they behold the transformation at the end of the ritual, they sigh reverently, "Ohhhhh......you look BEAUTIFUL!"


I'm kind of a makeup snob.  I like the good stuff, I mean, not Chanel and Lancome and Bobby Brown, but I like stuff that isn't Maybelline and Cover Girl and WetnWild. I love Bare Minerals.  I love Origins.  I love the stuff that is more natural.  I care about what I put IN my body, and by the same token, I care about what I put ON my body as well. And since my last pregnancy with our twins, my skin went berserk on me and broke out with severe eczema across my cheeks and nose. That's gone now, but I have to be a bit more careful about what I put on the face now.


One thing that I just have not had any luck with is choosing good eye shadow! Or even eyeliner.  For that matter, I stink at picking out mascara too! I have sensitive eyes, and I've tried a lot of stuff. I want to be able to vary my eye look from vampy on those days I'm feeling spunky, to demure on those days when I want a natural look......


But this is hard when you have sensitive eyes.  Can I get a witness out there?


So, recently I went on a Makeup Buying Binge.  My husband gave me some money with which to do whatever I wanted.  I knew months ago that this money was coming in July and I had been carefully researching what I was going to get for my face.  On the appointed day I went down south to Sephora and I walked in and got a makeover.


Now, I had had to throw every single bit of my makeup out last year due to a recurring eye infection that was causing styes to come and go.  I was using Physician's Formula eyeliner, mascara and eyeshadow, because they make all sorts of gentle-hypoallergenic-nonporeclogging-as-good-for-you-as-fresh-butter claims...and I kept on getting the dang eye problem!


I guess I just didn't think it through.  I thought maybe I hadn't washed my brushes well.  Or maybe it wasn't the eyeshadow....or the liner....or blah blah blah.....and so, after throwing all of my makeup, brushes and odds and ends away, I had been without makeup for over a year.


A strange and odd thing happened to me when I stepped into Sephora.  I was greeted by a guy.  Hmmm.  And not only was he a guy, but....he was a guy who was wearing makeup.  


HUH??


Nothing like that had ever happened to me.  I wasn't sure what to do.  I was bewildered.  And frankly, I was kinda freaked out because guys in MY world just don't do that!


But, I sensed the Lord telling me to go with it.  I did.  I let this man do my makeup.  It was odd.  It was at first very, very uncomfortable.  But I discerned the Lord whispering to me to begin to pray for this man as he worked on me.  And I did.  And that topic's a whole other post.


To make a long story not-so-long, I bought the Bare Minerals stuff he used on me.  I bought  a couple of Clinique things, like mascara, concealer and a lipstick.  


I spent a ton of money.  Oy.  I asked the gals at the front if they had paramedics standing by in the back, in case I had the unfortunate privilege to pass out cold when I saw how much the stuff was.


I bought one eye shadow palette that I liked, but I was going to try Physician's Formula again, just to see what happened.


And guess what? I got a blasted eye infection again!!!!!


And the icing on the cake was that I didn't keep any of my receipts!! 


After less than three weeks of wearing a New Face, and LOOOVING it, I had to trash stuff!!!! Again! I only threw out the eye makeup this time.


I really do know now that it is something that is in Physician's Formula eye makeup that just freaks my eyes out.  I tossed the Clinique mascara, which I loved.  I tossed the Physician's Formula eyeliner and eyeshadow.  I think I've learned my lesson! I'll never go near that eye makeup again.  Funny thing is, I picked up some of that cool-looking Physician's Formula blush that I blogged about recently and I can use that just fine.


I really like makeup.  I want to be able to express myself with it.  But how can I if I can't do my eyes??


The styes, which are really a staph infection, are all gone now and yesterday I put concealer and face makeup on and my eyes were fine.....but the face looked blah without eye stuff.


Argh.


I wonder what's out there to try that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  Does anyone know??


What should I do?