Girls Only

Be warned. This is a girly post. Of course, if you boys out there are looking for some socking suffers, read on.

As I said way back when we started this blog, I think dancing encompasses everything. Or maybe it's just a good excuse for me to blather about anything I want. So. You've seen some posts form me concerning dresses and shoe pads. Now here's one about makeup. I love makeup. I love how I can look tired and decidedly lack luster when I get up, and somehow by the magic of makeup, look pretty good when I leave. I use lots of products to achieve this transformation, but very little of each. On a normal day it doesn't take very long. Hey, I've been doing it for 30 years. What else do I do every day? Brush my teeth?

When I go out dancing, I like to look more dramatic, and OK, it's an excuse to go back to the glittery makeup I wore in my twenties. Not as much...I think as one gets older one should tone it down. Smoky eyes look cool on a twenty year old, kinda scary for most of us in mid life. Dancing has some unique problems with makeup. Namely, you sweat. Nothing like a big 'ol streak of mascara running down your face to destroy that fetching look. Something I've been looking for a very long time is an indestructible eye liner, preferably not black. See my comment on smoky eyes above. I've used a few with varying success, some are too hard to apply, some don't last, some don't come in the colors I want.

I have now found the perfect eye liner. And with a few caveats, you too can have it. Let me first state I love makeup, but I don't love high prices. Don't get me wrong, I've over indulged at Sephora and loved it, but felt very guilty afterwards because of the price tag. And, my scientific side says most of the high prices are not justified...the formulas for cheap and expensive are not that different. You don't think so? Get a bottle of drug store shampoo. Now get a salon bottle. Look at the ingredients. See what I mean? I'm sure your hairdresser will argue amounts of said ingredients, but really, shampoo for the most part is shampoo. Same for nail polish. And other stuff.

But...occasionally, very occasionally, a product will surprise me. And Jemma Kidd eye liners were one of those. I found them in Target. I love Target. I could spend a good part of an afternoon there. Anyway. First, the bright colors of these liners caught my eye, so to speak. Ha. A myriad of bright, dare I say, neon colors, with a soft shimmer. Oh my. I quickly grabbed six, then put three back. I settled on a lime green, bright teal, and coppery brown. No price that I could see, but hey, I was in Target. How expensive could they be? Big mistake.

Turned out these lovely liners were 15 bucks a pop. Whew. Blew my budget for at least a month. My husband, sweet thing, told me not to worry. A Yule time treat. That evening I tried one. I still was a bit growly over the price. These had better be GOOD, I thought. I eased the brush out. Nice and small. This is essential, because I have no real talent for applying this stuff, if it doesn't go on smooth the first try I can never get it right. I swiped near my lash line , the formula was smooth and went on perfect. The color...oooooh. VERY pretty.

I'd never seen anything like it. OK. So far so good...but would it last? I wore it dancing. No streaks. No smudges. Unfortunately during a vigorous lindy, I felt something in one eye. I wear contacts. Miserable if something flies in. I rubbed it. Oh no, I thought, there goes my liner. I visited the ladies room and...lo and behold, the stuff was still there, looking as neon green as it had earlier. Now I started to worry.

Would it ever come off? But it did later on, just as easy as the rest of my makeup via the wonderful Olay washing clothes (another cool tool). So there you are.

But now that we're on the subject, how about a few more make up products? How about blush? First I have to say is a bit embarrassing because of the name of my favorite. Who names a blush Orgasm? But it IS fab, the brand is Nars. I've seen it used by dark and pale skinned ladies alike to the same soft shimmery goodness. The shade is a wonderful golden peach that seems to work with everyone. Very nice. You can get it on ebay, which I wish I done with the eye liners but oh well. I have never found the color in any other brand.

Nail polish. They were all the same to me, except sometimes the expensive brands like Opi sometimes have better colors, and then I found...Nailtique. This is not a color, but a fixer. When you put this on first (I like formula 2) your nails Will Not Break. Or split, shred, peel. OK, so I still break one now and then l, but I was using my nail as a tool. For normal activities, this stuff is magic. Also available on eBay.

The third and last makeup item. For those of you who do not have a pink under tone in your skin, this is a cool tip. Up to now, I have never found foundation that worked with my skin tone. I have a decidedly yellow tinge, NOT pink. Also foundation to me is rather yuk, but there are a few places I need it. I found two perfect items. One is Physicians Formula cover up in Yellow. You can find it in most drug stores. It's supposed to be an under eye thing and it does work good there, but I use it to cover any other unfortunate place on my face that needs covering .A little bit does it. I also like a very light veil of powder to set everything, but again, up to now all I could find was pinkish beige (terrible on me) or "translucent", which made me look like a ghost. Model's Choice (eBay, again), has a nice yellow tinged beige that works great for those who have a yellow under tone. (I refuse to use the word sallow.)

Oh, and girls, try brown mascara instead of black, even if your hair is dark. It does the same job but looks much softer. See my smoky eye comment above.

Oh dear, I've done everything except lips. I'm not a lipstick girl, I like gloss. Gloss is good, except when you dance you do NOT want a sticky one because your hair will stick or your partner will at some point get it on his shirt. For dancing I like Bonne Bell (drugstore) in Dr. Pepper. It gives a nice soft red tint, it's not sticky. Sometimes I use TINY bit of Venom gold shimmer over the top (eBay), but not too much or it will get messy.

OK, I'm done now. Hair goo at some point in the future.