Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Mascara Magic

I am a woman who wears make-up.  I  take a day off occasionally, and go out into public wearing my au natural look, but for the most part, I am a daily face painter.  With enough patience, I can smooth on the face cream, apply concealer around my dark shadows and "blemishes", brush on powder and bronzer, smear on eye shadows to match my outfit, and carefully aim my lips at the lipstick to get a dabbed on look.  The real challenge is the mascara.
It takes real skill to get mascara on my lashes without poking myself in the eye, or making a nice smudge on my lid.  The first lesson I learned was to hold the wand still while my head did the work.  I brace my elbow, lean in real close to the mirror, open my eyes as wide as I can get them, and go in for the kill.  Once the wand touches the edges of my lashes, I just hold there and shake.  With any luck, the outcome is painted lashes, and not a black eye.
For the first nine months or so that I had the tremor, I didn't even attempt to put make-up on.  I was afraid of ending up looking like a clown, or one of those scary monsters in a horror flick.  I was nervous that I would end up with brushes and wands impaled in my eye, and then, not only have a head tremor, but be blinded as well.  The truth is, during that time, I probably looked pretty scary with dark circles around my eyes from restless nights sleep, and pale skin from insufficient sunlight.  I didn't want to go out in public in the first place, because I was shaking and would be stared at, but I also wasn't feeling very pretty.
After all those months, I met my Therapy Bitches.  One of them happened to be a make-up artist, and gave me tips as she applied my make-up for me, before we went out on the town one night.  And then a transformation happened.  I looked in the mirror, and saw that with a little patience and lipstick, I felt beautiful.  It wasn't that I was covering up what I didn't like about my face, it was that I was accentuating the natural features that made me feel pretty.
Since then, I have taken the time,  almost every morning, to bring out my natural beauty.  I can complement my cheek bones with a quick swipe of blush, make my lips look fuller with a dab of lipstick, and use that little magic mascara wand to cast a spell on my eyes.  And if all goes well, I still have my vision, so I can see that I am overcoming my own fears, and confidence is painted all over my face.

1 comment:

  1. This is probably the best makeup story I have ever read. Although I don't have to deal with the challenges of a tremor, I will note that some of the smudgy-type issues and ability not to look like a caricature of god knows what. Now the eyeliner pencil must make its way across a bumpy landscape impeded only by fuzzier vision. You, Miss KB, are beautiful throughout, always have been. Glad it feels so good.

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