The Eyes Have It

Being a woman of contradictions such as I am, the fact that I had so much fun today makes some sense, but still, to look at me on a typical day one would not think so.

What am I talking about? Well, today I got to go to the Fila Academy where my pal Scarlett is a student and be her eye-makeup model.

Can I just say that she is amazing? A true artist. The best part was watching this girl work. Scarlett first did "Smokey Eyes" on me in a selection of green tones, and that turned out great,
but then I quickly stripped that off and got ready for a day-to-evening bridal look. I'm still wearing that one, including "flares" which are little wisps of artificial eyelashes that are applied with an adhesive to fill in one's natural lashes without the need for mascara. They don't have the heavy look of traditional false eyelashes (which I wore for the Smokey-eyes look), but they add thickness, length and definition. These are a bit long and dramatic for me, but the idea is sound, especially since they will last a week and you don't need mascara-pretty cool actually.


So why the surprise that this was so much fun? Because I am a beauty expert like Scarlett's worst nightmare. I use $1.49 Suave hair products. I wash my face with Cetaphil lotion and use sunscreen as a moisturizer. 4 days out of 7 I wear no make-up and barely do my hair. Yes, to me, L'Oreal is an upscale brand. Even though I've bought lots of Mary Kay and admittedly a trip to Sephora is really dangerous for me because I love trying new stuff that smells good and feels nice, I always end up back in my old habits and go no further than CVS or Target for my beauty needs. Even when I do wear make-up, it is paired with the same outfit I've worn since 7th grade-jeans and a sweater or t-shirt. Thus the contradiction. I love the idea of looking totally groomed and put together, of wearing black dress boots under my jeans for that great casual-chic feel, but I never quite care enough to make it happen during the normal course of my life. I do it for church and work, but the rest of the time, I tend to go au naturel. I like being able to put my hair up and out of my way rather than spend 60 minutes (yep, that's what it takes, even when it's short) blowdrying it and straigtening it. Maybe if I had an entourage and could sit and listen to an audiobook for the two hours it would take to put me together each morning, I would get into it. As Cindy Crawford the famous supermodel once said, "Even I don't look like Cindy Crawford when I wake up in the morning."


For now, today was a an awesome fantasy under the tutelage of a truly talented woman. I felt pampered, I felt pretty, and I appreciate the difference that make-up makes. It was totally fun to see the classroom setting and see how passionate the instructor and the students were about helping people look and feel beautiful.

Thanks Scarlett for the glimpse into the other side of me!