June 21, 2019 – The eyes have it.

The prompt for the June Writer’s group was:  Share a snapshot of a moment in time from your life – a moment, an object, a feeling:                     

         At a recent hair appointment, I picked up a glossy magazine.  As usual, in the Mother’s Day issue was the Mom “makeover” that captured four women of various ages with before and after photos.  It was more than just putting lipstick on a pig; they had changed hairstyles, makeup and even changed their clothing style.

         Of course, the results were dramatic.

         It reminded me of the color draping I experienced at least two decades ago with my two best friends.  It was honestly the first and only time I experienced my friends looking at me with faces screwed up with disgust and their tossing disparaging remarks at me as the colorist draped colored fabric about me.

         “Ghastly,”

         “Awful,”

         "Dreadful,”

         “Makes you look tired.”

         As the comments were made, the colorist tossed aside the rejected colors to one side and kept the colors that made my bare skin, eyes and hair look its best.

I was classified as winter, but, I could also use most of the fall colors.

         The colorist was actually selling makeup and she next proceeded to do my makeup.  It was a new experience for me as I wore little make up until then, usually just mascara, lipstick and only enough foundation to take the ruddiness out of my cheeks.

         She slathered on moisturizer, then a full foundation with dots of lighter color to contour my face.

         She let me put on the mascara as I blinked too much.  She added definition to my eyebrows – whatever for I wondered.  Then she used three colors on my eyelids for the three-tone look. 

         She started with a muted dark brown on the lower lid, then highlighted the under-brow with a creamy bone and finished it off with a diagonal swath of moss green that sweep up and out from my eyelash fringe line.  Lastly, she lined my lips with a pencil and painted my lips with a lip brush dipped in matte rose lipstick.

         “Did it make my brown eyes blue,” I asked as I took hold of the mirror to inspect how I looked and said,

         “I look like a slut – Russ won’t go for this – It’s tooooo  much makeup.”

         “You look fabulous.”

         “Like a model.”

         “You’ve just got to buy the trio compact – it is perfect for you.”

         “You look . . .  elegant, . . . worldly, . . .  intelligent . . . .”

         I will gladly take intelligent over the rest of the comments.

         Everyone rattled on as I started experiencing itchy skin from the moisturizer and foundation.

         I did buy the trio eyeshadow compact and lipstick.

         Later, when I got home I asked my husband what he thought of my new look?

         Russ assessed it for a moment, shook his head and turned back to the late night news, saying, “Just add chewing gum and you look like a whore.” 

         For years, I had that trio eyeshadow compact hidden away and only used it when he left for work ahead of me, or when I was going out shopping or to a symphony or play with my girlfriends.

         Funny, I remember how my girlfriends always noticed and complimented my Hollywood eyes.