Twist My Arm, Why Dontcha?

Okay, okay. I have heard from a bunch of lurkers following this blog (come out and show yourselves, Cowards!!! :) that I promised makeup tips. Yeah, I did promise a few of them. . . okay, okay, maybe a LOT of them. So to shut a few folks up, here's a quickie for tonight.

To make your lipstick stay on a l-o-n-g time, line your lips with your favorite pencil and then fill them in with that same pencil. Pretend your pencil is your lipstick and completely cover your mouth. Make any adjustments to your lip line at this time. Then fill in again with your favorite lipstick. Blot once with a single sheet tissue. (Make a single sheet tissue by pulling apart the two plies of most standard tissues and use only one.) Apply a little powder. Blot again. Apply lipstick again. Make kissy lips and look mahvelous!

Don't like lipstick? Follow the above advice to the lipstick part. Now cover your lips with your favorite gloss instead. Blot once, but skip the powder. Now gloss again. You will be soft, shiny and pouty!

You can get lots of interesting colors by combining different pencils and lipsticks/lip glosses. My current fave is a taupe lip pencil with plum-colored gloss over it. The taupe tones down the plum a little bit and it goes with just about everything. Mix and match to your heart's content. Have fun with it! One of the best things about makeup is. . . if you don't like it, you can wash your face and start over!

Cheek shading for chubby cheeks coming up tomorrow! Promise.

Be There or Be Square

There is a large makeup mirror on my desk. I can see my whole face in it and it's instrumental for getting my warpaint on straight in the morning. I just caught my reflection in it and. . . UH OH, I SEE A SQUARE!!! Now what's so surprising about that? All my life my face has been round, that's what. My makeup has been planned for a round face since I knew there was such a thing as makeup. Now it's SQUARE??? Okay, okay. Let's be honest here. Age has taken its toll. I've lost some weight (woo hoo!), a good thing for most of us. But SQUARE???

Now the panic sets in. What am I going to do in the morning? I have to be at work early. How am I going to rework my makeup to look good on a SQUARE face and still get to work on time? Why didn't I notice this earlier or on my day off so I could properly prepare? OH, WOE IS ME!!!

So off I go to my library of makeup books, studying the great Kevyn Aucoin, perusing Eve Pearl, searching the online pages of Allure Magazine, Googling "makeup for a square face." What does one do with a square face? More importantly, why must this old dog learn new tricks NOW? BIG SIGH

And then it comes to me. The makeup application for a round face AND a square face is pretty much the same. I knew that, didn't I? Yeah, kinda sorta. BIG CLEANSING BREATH. I know what to do in the morning. The same thing I've been doing for shaping and shading for X + a gazillion years. Oh, I do different looks almost every day, but I contour my face pretty much the same. Round = Square where that is concerned.

Okay. The face was round. The face is now square. Same same. Dark shadow in the hollow, blush center eye to center ear and cover the dark shadow. White smudged in under all. Blend, blend, blend. If you want the specific technique, send me a note on this blog. . . especially if you have a square face.

Six Degrees of Nail Polish

"Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is an average of six 'steps' away from each person on Earth." (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

You know what? I'm beginning to believe it! Case in point: Getting my nails done. I resisted professional manicures and acrylic nails for many years. I never liked the look in the early days of the phenomena. I didn't think I could function in my daily life with them. However, when I accepted my job at a cosmetics counter in a major department store, I figured my hands better look good while I was performing my makeup magic on them. So I broke down and decided to do a short acrylic full set.

My first step was to get a few recommendations from people I trust. I almost always do things on personal recommendations. I like the intimacy of a personal recommendation rather than relying on, say, a newspaper ad. So I began asking around.

I stared at everybody's hands. "Ooooh, who did your gorgeous nails?" They would give me a name. "I love your nails. Where do you get them done?" They would give me a name. And on and on it went. After a few days, one salon's name kept popping up far and above the rest. The capper was when a good friend of mine (we'll call her #1) told me she drives almost 40 miles to this very same salon to get her nails done! The skeptic in me was satisfied. I made an appointment, got my nails and have been a very satisfied customer ever since. (See, I can even type with these things!)

One day at work, I am talking to one of the other counter managers (we'll call her #2) and I just happened to ask her where she gets her nails done. Guess? You probably got it, but not only the same salon. . . the same operator! Number 2 talks about another lady that I happen to know (we'll call her #3) and she gets her nails done by the same operator, too. I am starting to get blown away here.

Then one day soon after, I was waiting in line to pay for my coffee at a convenience store and I saw a lady with great nails so I asked her "THE QUESTION." We can now call her #4. This pattern repeated itself many times until I stopped counting at #10 or thereabouts.

The real "gotcha moment," though, came when I was talking to Friend #1 just last night. She not only uses the same operator at the same salon, but she mentioned to me that she was referred originally by my work buddy (#2) many years ago. I never even knew they knew each other! She then went on to mention some other people who were customers at this salon and I knew them all. Wow!

Six Degrees of Separation. In the world of nail polish, though, I think it's even closer. Who knows? Maybe all of us ladies are closely related by our fingertips. :)

Why Powder & Lipstick?

As I age, my thoughts drift back to my childhood when my mother and her friends all looked perfectly made up. It was another era, a more refined time. Oh, how I longed to look just like them! What transformed these women from housewives and mothers to looking like the women I saw in the magazines? Why, powder and lipstick, of course! I know. I asked them. "Mommy, what's on your face?" "Powder and lipstick, honey." "Grandmom , what makes you look so pretty?" "Powder and lipstick, honey." Ask a woman of that age today when you try to sell them product. "What makeup are you used to wearing?" "Powder and lipstick, dear." There may be a lot of product on that face, but the answer is usually the same: "Powder and lipstick."

Certain days, truth be told, I find myself wearing. . . guess what? Powder and lipstick. It's easy to put on before dashing out of the house and it does make you look a little bit better. Most days I add foundation and a little mascara, too, but the "Powder and Lipstick Option" is always there. I sell a lot of powder and lipstick. I always will.