Maybe I just need a veil. Veils are sexy, right?

I took the plunge. For the first time in my thirty-some-odd years, I bought myself some pricey department store foundation. For years and years and years, I have been perfectly fine with the cheap drug store variety (in the last few years I've been particularly fond of Neutrogena), but my reasonable, money-saving beauty ways have turned on me, and my face has rejected traditional foundation. It's also rejected tinted moisturizer, and pretty much anything with any kind of oil in it. Suddenly, a good fifteen years past the point I thought I didn't have to worry about it anymore, I have acne. I guess you could say that this makes me look youthful, but I'm pretty sure it just makes me look gross.

So lately I've tried going without makeup. This isn't so bad. It's actually kind of nice, since it gives me more time to sleep in the morning. I just wash my face, slap on some oil-free moisturizer-slash-sunscreen, and go. This is definitely a morning routine I can live with. Except that in addition to the acne, I also seem to be developing a slight case of rosacea. Whoo, patchy red spots! Can it get any better? I'm sure it can. But I'm no longer comfortable baring my splotchy face to my co-workers, so it's time to find a makeup that won't simply make things worse, or make me look like I've caked layers and layers of foundation and concealer on top of bad skin.

I've been asking around for a few weeks now about Bare Minerals--that makeup that's all mineral powder--or a reasonable equivalent, and while I've heard nothing but raves, I hadn't had a chance to sample it for myself, to see how my skin reacts to it. But then the other day, at the mall, I passed a kiosk that was hawking Micabella products, where a lovely Latina was eager to brush some on my naked face. The half that was made up (yes, she only did half, and had I known that beforehand, I probably would have passed instead of walking around the rest of the afternoon looking like a before & after poster) looked great, and felt light, and now I sound like an infomercial, but it really was awesome stuff, and I wore it the rest of the day and my skin had no problems with it. Sadly, it was also very expensive stuff, so I didn't buy any. Instead I made plans to start saving my pennies for a jar of Bare Minerals, which I'm told is equally awesome and also half the price.

Santa must have heard my plans, because when I checked my e-mail for day after Christmas sales, it led me to an Introduction Kit on sale at Ulta for $15.00. I can totally do $15! So I did. And hopefully it will get here soon, and I can become one of those nicely made-up, apparently-smooth-skinned ladies insisting that you should try this stuff, seriously, because it is awesome, and totally worth the price. Unless it turns out that it's really not. But at $15, I can take the chance and find out for myself.