I wonder how you feel about make-up?
I do wear make-up, but personally favour the understated "less is more", "your skin but better", approach typical of the French. My aim is not to create a face or look made-up, but just to add a touch of definition and warmth by adding a little blusher and some lipstick that accords well with my own colouration.
So I don't need much.
As make-up does go stale, and advice is commonly to renew it every now and then, a couple of years ago I went looking for some new lipstick and blusher. I also liked the look of some bronzer I saw in the shop, and thought it might add something to my appearance.
I had several goes at lipstick, since they no longer made the one I used to have. I acquired five over time, that I experimented with as the months went by — different seasons have different light and my skin colour is different summer from winter — until eventually I settled on one that seemed to work always. Three, which will no doubt appear in a future post, I gave away to someone else in my family with similar skin tones and also experimenting to find the right colour.
But the bronzer was a disaster. I loathed the unearthly sheen it gave to my face — made me look like an alien (as in different galaxy, not foreign country).
So my first item going out today, after keeping it a couple of years in the hope I would somehow take to it, is that bronzer and its massive application brush.
The brush I managed to re-home as part of a crafter's kit given away on Freegle.
The bronzer had to go in the bin; no one I knew wanted it and used make-up from a stranger isn't ever welcome, but most especially not in a pandemic. With it went the fifth lipstick. When I bought it I thought it looked okay (I did try the tester in the shop), but skin pH affects how a colour develops, and it never really worked when I actually wore it. Too dark and too much blue in tone, and all wrong for the other family lipstick-experimenter.
The second item leaving me today is a mirror. You can't see it properly in the photo because I took it apart and bubble-wrapped it for the charity shop.
It looked like this when it was all put together.
I moved the mirror on because it was quite large and obtrusive in the living space, and because I thought a little one I could put away would do just as well.
So the result of these changes was that now the mirror I have looks like this (my toothbrush is there to give you an idea of size) —
— and the make-up and mirror I now have, together, look like this.
Because I've managed to get the colours right, I don't need any more than just the one of blusher and lipstick. I never wear any make-up on my eyes because of skin sensitivity. The other things are my perfume (Clinique's Aromatics Elixir, bought from a private seller on eBay — new, but unwanted gift) and a concealer. All of it goes away neatly in a pouch in my shelves.
Some days I don't wear any make up at all, but I find it easier to face the world if I do.
4 comments:
I agree. One doesn't need masses of make up. It is frustrating as it goes off so quickly. I am also very allergic to most make up. I had to buy blush, mascara and lipstick for the girls' weddings last year. To my frustration mum decided to use my lipstick. There is no way I am sharing that with her. It became hers. I don't feel the needs for huge amounts of beauty stuff. MY every day stuff is bought in bulk. Simple skin cleanser, shampoo with little conditioner and a moisturising cream. But our bathroom is stuffed full of out of date items and I am not allowed to toss them.
So frustrating for you! x
I have noticed your lipstick color before and think it's lovely.
I am pink and blotchy as I age so would like to even out my porcine look, but only take the time to do that about once every couple of weeks. Sometimes I like to mess with makeup, sometimes I don't care one whit.
Are other members of your household donating things as well, Ember?
You always look lovely.
Just now Hebe is in process of having the fireplace opened up and reinstated in her bedroom, and is taking the opportunity to review her belongings and how she has things arranged in her room, so she is adding to the to-go pile. Today a pair of sandals that didn't work out went to an eager Freegler.
She and Alice quarantine things in the attic, and have a periodic overhaul to see if anything needs to go. Whereas I buy secondhand and dirt cheap on eBay, they buy quality things from artisans and Earth-friendly firms with a strong ethos of social justice. So although they are realistic about accepting when something was sadly a mistake, they are more cautious than I am about passing stuff on because it represents a much greater financial loss.
Tony embraced the way of simplicity with enthusiasm when he and I got together, and hoofed out loads of stuff. What he still has is practical and simple. His areas of accumulation are books and equipment for his two joys — woodwork and golf. So every now and then he goes through his different categories and moves on anything that's become redundant. A short while ago he did a radical clearcut of his woodwork shed and Freegled loads of stuff, and not long before that (having listened to my opinions on catching fish with a hook just for fun, not to eat) he made the big decision to give away all his fishing tackle — and fishing held a special place in his life since boyhood, so that was brave.
xx
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