What’s worse, just like my mother, I find myself mentally coordinating my outfits with what I’m about to put in my cosmetics bag when I’m packing for a trip. I carry around a small cosmetics bag with the essentials––lip liner, lip gloss, powder, a vile of perfume, and an alternate lip gloss in case the first one doesn’t match my outfit and I need an emergency lip pick-me-up. I may be worse than my mother.
I like it though. I like how I look after I’ve taken a little time on my face. It isn’t drastic. I try to keep it somewhat “natural.” It doesn’t scream made-up face like my mom’s does. I don’t look like the woman from page 35 of the Mary Kay catalog. I look like me, only better.
So, is that why my mom did it––to look like herself, only better? Or was she a product of the late ’80s? Did she enjoy the process of putting on a face? Did she watch her mother go through the same ritual? These are questions I don’t know the answers to, and maybe I don’t need to know. If I have a daughter one day, she may study my “putting my face on” ritual and question it. She may even take the time to write her observations down. I just hope she mentions that my lipstick complements my outfit!
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