Beauty Top Down: Make-Up

Oh make-up. How I love you! Pretty colors, enticing packaging, the promise of looking prettier! What’s not to love? I have so much make-up. Just look!

And keep looking.

And remember that I tossed out a cabinet full of make-up when I moved in January. Yeah. I love make-up.

The problem is, I bought all of that make-up aggggeeeessss ago. And the exerts in InStyle always tell me to throw out my make-up and remind me that my skin changes as I get older. (It does. Dammit. I would have preferred not to age.) So, I have all this make-up that’s old and not really working for me and my aging skin. Ive also been using a lot of drug store brands, which are actually fine, except for the small problem of the L’oreal concealer and eye shadows I’ve been using sliding off my skin by about noon, especially if the weather is humid. Which in DC, it always is. Always. Which is why if you ask any DC woman about her make-up routine, she will say she uses waterproof mascara because is less likely to streak down her sweaty, oily face in summer. True story.

I decided I needed to call in a professional so I hauled my self out to Montgomery Mall to the Sephora there to enlist the help of an expert. The expert turned out to be a pretty lady named Vanessa with the kind of eye makeup you see on runways at Fashion Week. She asked me what I needed and I gave her a laundry list of demands:

• I have five minutes to do my make-up in the morning
• I never touch up my make-up up so I need it to last
• I mostly focus on my eyes
• I want to avoid focusing on the circles under my eyes
• I have only $100 to spend

To Vanessa’s credit, she didn’t laugh at me. Instead she took me over to a display of Tarte cosmetics and showed me this pretty eye shadow palette which totally suited my need for subtle, professional colors. Then she grabbed a tube of Sephora brand eye primer and rubbed some on the back of my hand and applied shadow on top of the primer and on just the untreated skin. I was impressed. And I wondered why no one had told me about this magic potion before!

Finally, she got out some tools and selected a Tarte concealer for me. Using a concealer brush she dabbed it under my eyes and blended and told me to look in the mirror and OH MAH GAWD!  The lighted mirrors at Sephora are evil if you’re not wearing make-up! Every pore, blemish, and dark circle stands out in sharp relief! GAHHHH! But on the eye Vanessa had worked on look sensational, smooth and not at all purple like is usually looked. Woohoo!

I piled all the products she recommended into my basket and took them to the register where they came to under $100. Plus they gave me a free sample of mascara for having a lot of points on their frequent buyer program. plus they gave me a belated birthday gift (see? told you I was getting older.). That’s why I love Sephora so much. They really make me feel loved.

Well. Once I got my magic products home, I set to work recreating Vanessa’s handiwork and I’m pretty pleased with the results. This is how the raw material looks first thing in the morning.

Here we are halfway through the concealinng process.

Here is he finished product.

Not too shabby for an old broad, huh?

The make-up stuck all day too, which was really good news. So, I’m going to give the Sephora brand eye primer and the Tarte concealer a thumbs-up! I’m also giving a thumbs up to using a concealer brush instead of my fingers to blend it. VERY good idea. I want to kiss the guy who invented it. Or girl. I’m betting girl. In fact, I’m betting it was a mom. Who else has such epic circles under her eyes, right?

Oh, and in case you were wondering…my hair is still flat and straight. It looks awful. I hate it and I apologize to all you naturally straight-haired people for dismissing your plight for all these years.

The next steps in my beauty adventures will be micro-derm abrasion and a bra fitting! Stay tuned!