Oh, frabjous day.
I haven’t been a girly-girl since I had my first child. In fact, I don’t think I was ever issued a girly-girl card. Manicures and pedicures have never been a regular part of my life. At my last pedicure, the guy who was cleansing and lotioning my legs (is that even a thing at a pedicure?) acted very creepy. He kept staring into my eyes as he massaged my calf, and wiggled his eyebrows and hips. I was mortified for us both, and haven’t gone back. That was three years ago. My first facial was in 1997. My second and last was in 2014. And you can see from my hair in the picture that daily styling isn’t necessarily my thing.
But I’m vain about my facial hair. No, I don’t have a mustache to deal with, thank goodness. I suffer from a lack of significant facial hair, as in lashes and eyebrows. What I do have is pathetically pale. My lashes have always seemed unsatisfactory to me, and I’ve searched to the ends of the earth for a suitable mascara. Here’s a link to my current favorite. (The brush is perfection.) My eyebrows began their disappearing act somewhere near the middle of perimenopause, and I have missed them terribly.
My daughter has FABULOUS eyebrows. I mean, Brooke Shields-fabulous eyebrows. And as a proud mama, I’m happy to treat her to grooming for those fabulous brows. After the nice young lady at the Benefit Bar in the ULTA beauty store (our town can’t support a Sephora) finished waxing, plucking, and enhancing my daughter’s brows, I asked if she could help my sad pair. Of course she could! And in five minutes, she had my recently-waxed brows gelled and groomed and filled-in and looking better than they ever have. Even better than when I was almost a girly-girl! It was like a dream come true. So I bought the two products and left feeling like a million bucks, and didn’t feel a moment’s guilt at the indulgence.
In a week when terrible things have happened in London, and Alexandria, VA, and our country feels like it won’t survive the continuing tsunami of political hate and intolerance, my eyebrows count for nothing. But I spent the day loving and laughing and even crying with my family, and I feel very blessed that I could do those things in relative safety. Because I wanted to, and because I could.
Hold your dear ones close, and treasure every small and great happiness you find. Even if it’s as silly as eyebrow makeup. 💜
June 14th Words
Journal: 0 words
Long fiction: 0 words
Short fiction: 0 words
Non-fiction: 0 words
Blogging: words
Exercise: Walked the dogs 20 minutes. Traversed the mall several times.
I love your eyebrows, Laura! I confess to never having facial hair; that’s due to a skin product I’ve used for years, but my eyebrows have always been sparse, and in fourth grade, can you imagine, my mother gave me a Revlon eye pencil to use on my blonde eyebrows ( my hair was nearly black—now partially grey). GO GIRL. I have never had a pedicure, but I’ve had some manicures, using my own nails. And as far as current events: I am devastated ( not surprised) but definitely horrified for many reasons because this comes FAR too close to home for me ( the Capitol) and the fire in London is simply horrifying and hard to fathom on any level.
The stories are already disappearing from the headlines. Our attention spans have become so short, and our tolerance of violent acts too normalized.
What a wonderful peek into your childhood. I hope your mother demonstrated how you were supposed to use the eyebrow pencil! At nine or ten years old,I probably would’ve drawn stars on my face, lol.
I’m a natural nails person, too.
My mother was a beautiful woman who knew how to apply make up, and heck, Laura; I complained a lot about my eyebrows ( and hair she wouldn’t let me have cut). I am in mad search for a new eye pencil thingie: I am using Clinique’s fine tip, but they used to make a brush to sweep along a brown shade.
I was at a complete loss about makeup. My mother rarely wore it, and my first attempts really upset my family. How was I to know that there was such a thing as too much blue eyeshadow?!
The eye brow shaper has very poor reviews; too much blue, Laura? I used to watch my mother line her lips and then with a lip brush apply a beautiful coral shade lipstick.
Oh, no! You may need a trip to a brow bar. ULTA or Sephora, maybe? Love the detail about your mom, Skye. So beautifully visual.
I will take your advice; I live near Ulta, and I love that store!
I am going to run over to Ulta and check out the Benefit and I also hear Anastasia brow was great!
Have fun!
They have it! http://www.clinique.com/product/1595/5634/makeup/brows/brow-shaper
Hooray!