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.

I dreamed a dream of hair gone by, so different from this cash I'm holding

If you've been around here a while, then you know that I go back and forth a lot over whether to cut my hair. I think I want long hair. I imagine myself with a gorgeous main of long, wild, sexy curls. I spend six months or so growing it out...only to to find that it's not so much wild and sexy as it is kinda droopy, high maintenance and prone to split ends. But by that point, I've spent so much time growing it out that it seems like a shame to cut it.

So I dither, and before you know it another six months have gone by, it's halfway down my back, and it's still kind of a pain, but if I put the effort in I like the way it looks. By now I'm emotionally attached, I'm afraid of how I'd look with shorter hair (even though I have old pictures telling me I'd look just fine), I can't settle on a hair style, and having long hair just feels safe. By now it's been long enough for a long enough time that it's part of my identity, and the idea of cutting it feels almost as frightening as the idea of getting a tattoo. As frightening, at first, until I remind myself that it's not as permanent, that it would grow back eventually, that it wouldn't be the end of the world. And then there I am again, back with the dithering.

But if I found someone willing to pay between $200 and $2,000 for my lopped off ponytail? Then, I think, the only dithering is over where I last saw the scissors. You want to pay how much for a foot of my hair? For real? And I don't have to become a diseased prostitute like Fantine? Um, yes please? I can think of plenty of things I could buy that would soften the pain of my hairendectomy. Like paying off some bills, for starters.

My hair needs some TLC to fix some damaged ends and get it in good condition, but I'm seriously considering this. I might wait to grow it a couple more inches, though. Apparently, the longer the pony, the higher the price it fetches. And if it turns out there's no market for light auburn relaxed curls, I can always pack it off to Locks of Love and reap some warm fuzzies while I'm getting used to my new 'do.

Seasonal Fabulosity

I went "shopping" in the back of my closet this weekend. I found things that have been back there so long that they're practically new! Or at least they're new to everybody at this job. I've been playing around with them, trying new combos and taking a few chances, so that I can get through the spring--possibly summer, too--without being completely sick of every single thing in my closet. Or at least of what's in rotation in the easy-to-reach part of my closet.

Spring (and fall, too) always inspires me to put a little more effort into my appearance. Mild weather makes me care about fashion, about accessories, about having my toenails painted and my legs shaved so that they're always ready for a cute skirt or pair of sandals. The more extreme months, not so much. In cold weather, my only fashion criteria are, "Will it keep me warm?" and "Will it get me sent home to change?" If the answers are "yes" and "no" respectively, then it becomes a winter wardrobe staple. In the summer it's pretty much the same, except replace the first question with, "Does this provide enough ventilation to let me make it from one air conditioned zone to another without dying from heat stroke?"

Of course, in the extreme seasons, I'm usually too distracted by either being so cold I want nothing more than to curl up under a mountain of blankets and never take off my warm flannel jammies, or so hot that I want nothing--NOTHING!--to touch my skin, and resenting that I have to make concessions either way. But in mild weather, I get to be girly, and wear pretty things, and feel beautiful, and have the energy to care. And today, the weather feels fabulous, and so do I.

Because sometimes Neutrogena just doesn't cut it.

Ad Alert!

Skinact.com is an online shop for quality skin care products. They offer spa quality brands at reasonable prices, and free shipping on orders over $100. A few of their offerings: they have organic lines, such as Eminence Organic Skin Care, featuring all-natural ingredients. SkinCeuticals is a line of anti-aging skin repair products, and Guinot is a luxury skin care line that appears to have something for everybody. If you have problem skin, or trouble with acne, you might want to check out MD Formulations. They have several other brands, some more well-known than others, and all high in quality.

What's Beautiful to You?

Paid post alert!


Belisi asks, "What's Beautiful to You?" The purveyors of the fashion blog I linked yesterday, as well as makers of high-quality fashion accessories for both men and women, are on a campaign to expand the fashion industry's definition of beauty. This is a campaign I can definitely get behind. Based on the belief that the truly beautiful people are those who make the world a better place, Belisi kicks off its campaign with a comment poll on their web site asking readers for their definition of beauty, and is even offering a $100 shopping card for the best response.

Anyone who has any sense or knows anything about Hollywood and the fashion industry knows that the version of beauty it presents is unnatural and unrealistic, augmented by plastic surgery, air brushing and image manipulation to create a standard that no real, flesh and blood person – not even the models being photographed – can live up to, but that doesn't keep people from going to often unhealthy and sometimes deadly lengths to try. If you read this blog regularly then you know that I've already devoted this year's resolutions to learning how to stop striving for that false perfection and accept myself the way I am. So I applaud any attempt from those inside the industry to advance changing attitudes about our society's standards of beauty.

My response to the question can be seen here.