The mysteries of life
May. 5th, 2008 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kitewithfishWhile my roomie is otherwise engaged in clacking glass beads on a necklace together while chatting with another of the on-again/off-again boys, I will update.
I went out and bought make-up today. (German: sich Schminken- to put on make-up. This is pronounced exactly as it looks like, and causes me much amusement to say.)
For some of you (who are apparently functional female human beings) this is probably not that big a deal. But for some reason, while I was a small human being, the lessons of 'buying quality make-up,''these colors look good, these do not,' and 'here are non-obvious ways of making yourself look pretty' did not get successfully transfered to me. Don't get my mom wrong: I received many lessons of greater import (be kind, wear authority very carefully, white privilege is real and you have to be aware of it, etc, etc), eye shadow did not really come into play beyond the 'oh, she looks like a clown, take the picture, husband!' stage.
Enter my sister, who somehow managed to pick up incredible and arcane female knowledge about making herself look fashionable and awesome all by herself. I don't know how she did it, but she did. And then succeeded in making me want that knowledge for myself, because she looked really cool and I wanted also to look really cool.
So, when my sister came to visit me, much of female lore was discussed, such as the various merits (small) of buying cheap make-up versus good make-up, how to take care of your skin, and how to stop worrying about food prices (compare things to the cost of living in Paris, apparently). Some was immediately put into play (and my pores rejoiced!). Some was delayed.
This leads into what I did this morning before my South Indian Religion class: I went out and bought make-up at a fairly expensive and reputable store, Yves Rocher, including the fiddly little brushes that you need to have for yourself in order to put make-up on properly. I bought mascara and the white eye-shadow that I use as base for much of eye make-up. I then also went out and bought nice blush and a single lipstick. The cost of this was, collectively, probably about as much as I have paid for make-up in the entire course of my life heretofore (read: honestly not that much.) I now have good stuff that looks good, won't make my skin break out, and makes me happy.
In other news: I have been thinking about glasses vs. contacts again. (This is an extension of a conversation I frequently have with myself while trying eye-shadow on from test samples- I need to take off my glasses to apply the make-up, but I can't see myself in the mirror without my glasses. The application process can become somewhat haphazard.) I really like my current glasses, though they are beginning to show the signs of wear that are telling me that I will need to get another pair soon (faint cracks in the protective anti-scratch coating over the lenses, which are in fact worse to deal with than the scratches themselves....). I also think I look better, smarter, and slightly more balanced with the glasses on than without them (I've rather a short face and a rather square jaw for a woman.) They are better for close reading, which, as a student, I do a great deal of. But they also fall off, obscure my face, and permanently dent my nose.
I went out and bought make-up today. (German: sich Schminken- to put on make-up. This is pronounced exactly as it looks like, and causes me much amusement to say.)
For some of you (who are apparently functional female human beings) this is probably not that big a deal. But for some reason, while I was a small human being, the lessons of 'buying quality make-up,''these colors look good, these do not,' and 'here are non-obvious ways of making yourself look pretty' did not get successfully transfered to me. Don't get my mom wrong: I received many lessons of greater import (be kind, wear authority very carefully, white privilege is real and you have to be aware of it, etc, etc), eye shadow did not really come into play beyond the 'oh, she looks like a clown, take the picture, husband!' stage.
Enter my sister, who somehow managed to pick up incredible and arcane female knowledge about making herself look fashionable and awesome all by herself. I don't know how she did it, but she did. And then succeeded in making me want that knowledge for myself, because she looked really cool and I wanted also to look really cool.
So, when my sister came to visit me, much of female lore was discussed, such as the various merits (small) of buying cheap make-up versus good make-up, how to take care of your skin, and how to stop worrying about food prices (compare things to the cost of living in Paris, apparently). Some was immediately put into play (and my pores rejoiced!). Some was delayed.
This leads into what I did this morning before my South Indian Religion class: I went out and bought make-up at a fairly expensive and reputable store, Yves Rocher, including the fiddly little brushes that you need to have for yourself in order to put make-up on properly. I bought mascara and the white eye-shadow that I use as base for much of eye make-up. I then also went out and bought nice blush and a single lipstick. The cost of this was, collectively, probably about as much as I have paid for make-up in the entire course of my life heretofore (read: honestly not that much.) I now have good stuff that looks good, won't make my skin break out, and makes me happy.
In other news: I have been thinking about glasses vs. contacts again. (This is an extension of a conversation I frequently have with myself while trying eye-shadow on from test samples- I need to take off my glasses to apply the make-up, but I can't see myself in the mirror without my glasses. The application process can become somewhat haphazard.) I really like my current glasses, though they are beginning to show the signs of wear that are telling me that I will need to get another pair soon (faint cracks in the protective anti-scratch coating over the lenses, which are in fact worse to deal with than the scratches themselves....). I also think I look better, smarter, and slightly more balanced with the glasses on than without them (I've rather a short face and a rather square jaw for a woman.) They are better for close reading, which, as a student, I do a great deal of. But they also fall off, obscure my face, and permanently dent my nose.
