FACE the truth

On Sunday as I was getting ready to go to Mum and Dad's house for our weekly morning tea, it suddenly occurred to me that this was the first time in a week that I had actually put on make up. Although this may not seem that unusual, the people who I hang out with the most would know that it is a very rare occasion for me not to wear make up.
Last week I had a very low key week and I just couldn't be bothered putting on any make up on, not even mascara. I only went to the local shops and to visit my parents, so in my opinion it wasn't necessary. I ran into a few people I knew (funny, in my head I thought no one would recognise me without my mask, not so!). One comment was you look tired, one was you look different and one was you look sun burnt (I wasn't, I have a couple of patches of pigmentation on my face) I wanted to yell like Chewbacca at them but I calmly just muttered 'I'm not wearing any make up'! Oh and p.s.when did it become all right for people who barely know you to point out flaws in your appearance? It is like when someone points out a spot on your face (I don't like the P word) I feel like yelling at them (chewbacca style again) that I already know, I do own a mirror, I AM AWARE!!
This got me thinking about when I first started wearing make up. I mean as a young girl I always used to play dress ups with my best friend and we would raid our Mum's old make up cupboards. In fact I have photos that my sister took for her photography assignment when I was 8 and she had me done up like one of those American child beauty contestants (looked more like a child drag queen) I started wearing a bit of lippy for 'special occasions' when I was 13 but my oldest sister gave me my first lipstick and matching lip liner when I was 14, it was Australis frosted pink and the lip liner matched perfectly! (aah what a colour!)

I was on a (kind of) date with a guy not too long ago and he decided to tell me I wear too much make up because he liked a more natural look (I thought to myself, how would you know when you've never seen me without make up?!) needless to say I didn't really see him much after that(my choice)!
One night I was at dinner with one of my best friends (you'll remember I have two best friends, we'll call them Priscilla and Dominique as these are the names we used to use in our early twenties when we were stuck talking to someone we didn't want to talk to!!) so I was out with Dominique and two of our single male friends. One of the guys was talking about a girl that was 'after' him. When we asked why he wasn't interested he said 'coz she wears too much make up'! Neither of us commented. Later that week we went out with another single male friend and bombarded him with questions. 'Would you be turned off by a girl with too much make up?' 'What is too much make up?' 'Do WE wear too much?'. He explained he likes natural looking skin, so he wasn't talking about lipstick or eye shadow but foundation. He never quite answered the 'do we wear too much?' question....hmmmm!!!

My friends have discussed this and we came up with the conclusion that there are the girls who look natural because they are natural and wear minimal make up and then there are the girls who are wearing natural looking make up (there is a big difference). We also all came up with the conclusion that natural looking make up is a lot harder to achieve than crazy, going out on the town make up! Especially now in a world of primers and highlighters and shimmers (my goodness it sounds like I'm painting a wall!)

But then on other occasions I have been out with the guys and they are all checking out girls who have the make up caked on as if ready for a playboy photo shoot (which I actually love by the way) and when I've pointed this out, they are like 'yeh I guess but she still look hot'! Ah the double standards of men, don't you just love it?!!
I have A LOT of make up, I'm a bit of a make up hoarder. I still have a turquoise eye shadow (that I do occasionally wear)that my sister was throwing out when I was 11! I wear my favourites, and most natural on normal days and then jazz it up for night time. I'm a big fan of eye shadow. I wear gloss more than lipstick (I generally have at least 5 glosses in my bag, don't ask me why!) I only wear one shade of lip liner, although I have at least ten spares of that one lip liner (I live in fear of the words 'that colour has been discontinued').

Very few people see me with no make up. I always remember a couple of years ago I was talking to one of my male friends on the phone. I was having, what I call, a no make up day. While I was on the phone there was a knock on the door and it was the friend that was still on the phone with me and one of our other friends, they were picking me up for a coffee and wouldn't let me put make up on- I wore VERY BIG sunglasses! Some of my girlfriends said they wouldn't have even answered the door! Aren't we amusing creatures?

I don't really know where I was going with this whole make up thing, it just started off with one quick thought but here I am and any boys reading are probably snoring!
And yes I know it seems frivolous and meaningless and I know beauty is on the inside but sometimes its just nice to add a little colour to our black and white picture!

Until next time,
the last single 34yr old woman