Day 4: A Visit With Mom

Today is January 4th, and I almost parted with my #TammyFayeMakeover ideal, but I sucked it up and put on makeup for the second time this week. The reason? I was going to visit my Mom.

Mom would love for me to be the type of woman who puts on her "face" as soon as she wakes up and leaves it on until she gets ready for bed; she was raised that a woman's attire is not complete unless she is wearing makeup. My Mom is the type of woman who walks into a room and instantly commands it with a single glance. I have heard grown adults call her "Mrs. Manchester", even after she has invited them to call her by her first name; there's just something about her that says, "Treat me no differently than you would the Queen". That something is usually my mouth; I have a very low tolerance for disrespect, especially when it is aimed at my Mom. Disrespect her and I will unleash on you such terror that it will make your worst nightmares look like a game of Candy Land. While I can't always live up to my own standard (what mother-daughter relationship is that perfect?) I do my best, and thus I found myself wearing a sweater instead of a Casual Friday sports jersey, a slightly sophisticated cascade of curls instead of a sporty ponytail, and a face full of makeup.

As you can see, I am tickled pink!

I love pink. It's actually one of my best colors to wear, but I stopped doing so around the time Reese Witherspoon made it a blonde's "signature color". Being blonde, people automatically want to deduct 50 IQ points and I have to work hard to be taken seriously; too much pink derails my own cause. Sometimes, I am my own worst enemy.

With my hair pulled back like this, I could have gone strong eye or strong lip but decided to go strong lip because it's a rare day I get to wear hot pink lipstick. I have very fair skin (I was once told that I am "pale enough to be dead") and the intensity of hot pink can make me look like a circus clown. This particular sweater is a close enough match to my lipstick (possibly exact, I'd have to check the Pantone) and it allows the lip color to blend with my outfit.

For me, strong lip is a time-consuming look to create. It takes about 5 minutes to complete. Yes, you read that right - five whole minutes on just my lips! When I do a "barely there" look it takes less time to do my whole face! I realize that I am not winning any sympathy from makeup artists and aficionados, but my stress is real...in the morning, that's five extra minutes I could be sleeping. This is another reason why I have a love-hate relationship with the "strong lip" look. It's my favorite look to wear, but I do love to sleep in on a cold winter morning.

To get the look, I penciled in my lips with a matching liner - I usually go a shade darker with my liner, but hot pink is tricky. If I use a darker pink, it doesn't look natural and if I use red I look Goth, which is not a good look for me. My pencil was not as sharp as I would have liked it, so the corners of my lips are a little wobbly; thankfully, cotton swabs and cover-up were at the ready for any major mishaps. After lining my lips, I filled in with a 100% matte hot pink lipstick and an overlay of semi-gloss lip gloss for a hint of shine. I hate the sticky feel of gloss, so I dry and seal it by using a blow dryer on my lips (low heat only, to avoid chapping). My goal is a Mona Lisa smile but I fear it is more of a Lisa Simpson smile.  Maybe practice will make perfect?

Which Lisa? You decide!

Overall, I am happy with this makeup look, but at the same time I feel like I don't look like myself. I would wear this style if I was drinking red wine by a field-stone fireplace with my girlfriends (I am not romanticizing; I live in New England, where field-stone fireplaces are everywhere, including the local Panera). This look is not "run to the grocery store on a Friday afternoon", so it is going to take some adjusting if this is going to be my new normal.

This weekend, I will be baking carrot-cake cupcakes for the church coffee hour, so I will get to practice one of my other New Year's Goals: pastry decorating. Stay tuned to see how my first #caketastrophe adventure goes!

KJM
01.04.2019