All About My Mother

On this beautiful Mother's Day, I'd like to pay homage to the most beautiful woman I know, my mom!

One of the most memorable times in my childhood was watching my mom get ready for work or a night out. My mom is one of those old school, full face of makeup every day people and I loved watching her pull out her dusty, powder stained makeup bag filled with all her goodies and her makeup mirror and bring it to the dining table so she coul glam up for the day. She'd spend at least 30 minutes on her face, which I always thought didn't need makeup. I'd never seen her with a blemish, even now. And my mother is a beautiful woman, with or without makeup.

She's only made a few adjustments to her routine in the 33 years I've known her. Her essential supplies include the ubiquitous big red round sponge she uses to apply powder. She buys them in bulk now because they are getting harder to find; the painted red Maybelline eye pencils in black she'd light with a match to soften the liner. And I'll never forget Maybelline great lash mascara in blackest black (note: she takes the smaller lip inside the tube out so that she can apply thick, black coating of mascara on her lashes. She LIKES the Tammy Fay Baker look, apparently). Her rouge (yeah, she still says "rouge") was always either a cream or she'd just use one of her red lipsticks. She draws crosses on each cheek then blends.

I also remember her liquid foundation. Flori Roberts in "Chroma C". It didn't quite match her skin, and if she didn't blend it correctly, you could see the line around her face as perfectly round as if she were trying to look like a mime. Luckily I've been able to introduce her to the wonderful world of custom blend foundation at Prescriptives.

When I was girl, I would get all up in her makeup at every opportunity. She'd get so mad, but I'd do it anyway. I'd test all of her lipsticks, in various hues of red, on my lips, wiping them off and trying on another one. To my mom, red lipstick equals glamour. I've never seen her in anything other than red lipstick lined with a wine colored lip liner which she REFUSES to blend together, drives me nuts! Sometimes I just want to ambush her, hold her down and swipe on a pretty neutral or brown shade, but she just won't let me! She says, "It's just not 'me".

As much as I love makeup, I don't wear it every day. But when I do sit down to really do my makeup, I do the same thing my mom does. I pull out all my makeup and accessories, sit at my vanity with my super magnified lighted makeup mirror and really take my time with it. We may use different colors and have completely different looks, but It was all influenced by my beautiful, glamorous mommy whom I love very much!