"Beauty" Musings

I've had this sitting in my queue to review & post for a while. I feel like I need to get this out to move forward with this blog.

One thing I don't mention in my profile is that I'm a feminist. Partially because for many, that's a big scary word that connotes all sorts of awful things and partially because it seems that makeup and feminism have very little in common. I'm sure there are some out there who would call me a hypocrite for being makeup-obsessed and a feminist. But to me, wanting social, economic, and political equality for the sexes has nothing to do with makeup the majority of the time. Then I get an e-mail from glamour.com (I get daily beauty tips that are honestly pretty worthless) about "the perfect transition nail polish" and on top of this fabulous post I read on my friend's blog the day before something in me just snapped a little. This stuff that we do, the selling of things, is meant to make us all feel inferior. I know that, most of us know that. But that doesn't mean we're aware of it all the time or that we are always able to resist its effect on us.



So here's what gets to me: we, as women, get messages from all around us that we need to spend mental energy on our appearances, down to every last detail. I will admit to being tempted by Latisse for a little while, but the side effects aren't worth it and honestly, my lashes are pretty darn nice the way they are. But the e-mail about the perfect polish color to wear from summer into fall just drove me up the wall. I have a few things to say to that. One, we have better things to worry about than "transition polish" unless we're beauty editors and that's how we make our money. Two, polish is changed pretty frequently, especially on fingernails. Is there really a NEED for a "transitional" polish? Shouldn't we wear whatever color we want, regardless of season? And if our polish lasts a week or two, does it really need to transition between the seasons? It's not a cardigan!



The overall message is that we direct our energies into trivial details and spend time focusing on our appearance. If we do that, what mental energy do we have left over for our other pursuits? I honestly need to spend more time focused on treatment planning than outfit planning. The very idea of something like transitional polish or even transitional makeup (hypocrite alert!) is somewhat foreign to me because I prefer to wear what I like, when I like. I do transition colors by season, sort of, but I don't let that stop me if I want to wear a dark lipstick in summer or bright colors in winter. I don't put a whole lot of effort into figuring out what makeup I should wear for which season.

Clearly, I love makeup. I wear it almost every day. I enjoy playing with different colors and textures, finding new uses for products, and having fun. But I don't think anyone needs to be thinking about it in the minute details that are suggested by marketing such as the previously-referenced e-mail. Unless, as I said above, they're beauty editors and that's what they are paid to do. Let's be honest: most women have one or two looks that they do over and over and over again. I include myself in that category, because it's easier than being adventurous on a day-to-day basis. Plus it's less expensive. I think it's important to make ourselves feel beautiful and even sexy, because caring for ourselves makes us feel good. But that beauty should not be at the expense of other parts of our lives. Making ourselves beautiful may have nothing to do with makeup and everything to do with clothing, hair, or inner beauty through good deeds. My thoughts get a little jumbled at this point. Let me say that this idea of not spending excessive amounts of mental energy on appearance leads to a business opportunity, something I'll be introducing and promoting as a way to help women streamline their lives to make time for everything else they want to do.

Like I said, I'm makeup obsessed and think it's important to feel good about how we look. But I think that needs to come from inside, not from external validation like magazine articles or e-mails about how to look our best. I'll post again soon explaining my service and what I want to help women accomplish with it.

Autumn Trends?

One of the things I love about the change of seasons is the accompanying style changes. I think one of the reasons I love Autumn is that I enjoy breaking out the cozy sweaters. It also reminds me of that excitement and hopefulness at the beginning of a new school year. But since I live in Southern California and I'm not in school anymore, I have to find other substitutes. The best way to bring the spirit of fall into my life is to change my makeup. I love the colors of Autumn makeup, the jewel tones, the berries, the soft greys...

So, to celebrate, here are the Autumn makeup trends I'm most looking forward to:

- Dark (but not Goth) lips. Think burgundies, deep reds, rich berries, deep magentas...
They can be satiny, matte, or glossy. I love slightly glossy lips because I think it adds more dimension.

- Grey lids. I like matte and shimmery. A lighter grey looks good during the day and a darker grey for the evening, especially with shimmer. It's an especially good look for green eyes.

- Shimmery bronze and brown lids. I love shimmer. Bronze is one of those shades I think of as universally flattering when done right.

- Olive green liner or shadow. Love the olives and the khakis right now!

- Plums. If you have green eyes, like me, and you really want them to pop, dust a medium grey matte shadow on your lids, thin plum line at the base of the lashes, then some plum mascara (Diorshow has one!). To amp it up some more, add a glossy berry-colored lip.

WIll I get the hang of this?

So my original intent was to use this blog as a way to promote my makeup "career" and share my opinions on makeup, of which I have many. But I've been neglecting this blog. Maybe it's how busy I've been, but I just am not as into makeup right now. I think maybe it's a new phase in my life...instead of being into all kinds of crazy colors and lots of makeup done well, I've been doing less and less makeup, using more neutral/natural colors. Hmm...maturity or just laziness due to lack of time?

My one exception recently was when we went to see Joan Jett at the San Diego County Fair. I put on my new "Rick Roll'd" t-shirt (from bustedtees.com) and makeup from Stila's new Indian Summer collection: golden noir smudge pot (slightly sheer black with gold flecks) as thick cat-eye eyeliner, topped with the aqua shadow from the palette, with the deep black-burgundy blended onto the outer corners and the orangey gold color smudged into the crease (and a little bit of the pinkish shade in the inner crease). Most days I don't even wear eye shadow anymore, just foundation, mascara, and lip gloss, so this was several steps up.

Here are the products, photo of how I turned out to come when I get a little less lazy and actually upload all the photos in my camera. The deals: the eye shadow palette was being sold at Sephora for $10 instead of the usual $28. Not sure why, but that's a deal I couldn't pass up even though I wasn't sure how much I'd use the colors. I got the golden noir smudgepot in a "Yay! The Lakers Won!" set from the Stila website (http://www.stilacosmetics.com/). $36 for illuminating tinted moisturizer, smudgepot, convertible color, and brown lash visor mascara, which was another great deal I couldn't pass up. Clearly, Stila is one of my favorite makeup brands.

Intro

I never really thought I'd start doing this whole blog thing, but here I am. I'm starting to do makeup for weddings and other events, so this is a way for me to show everyone my work and communicate my point of view.

I'm a part-time makeup artist, among the many other things I do. I've done special-events makeup for myself (of course) and my friends for years. I realized, when I was planning my & the husband's wedding, that wedding makeup was something I could see myself doing. I worked at a department store cosmetics counter whose line had an emphasis on natural, but playful, beauty. My philosophy is to use makeup to bring out each woman's natural beauty.

Be warned, I may also occasionally post about makeup/beauty trends that I see, especially some of the crazy, almost nonsensical skin care claims out there. I'm also a skin care nut!

Over time, I'll be posting photos of my work. At first, they'll be photos of myself, but I'm working on building my portfolio. Pricing is $40 for special events, $60 for weddings (I am willing to work out discount pricing for groups). Please let me know if you are interested!