Yesterday I woke up at my father-in-law’s with a mild concussion, a swollen nose, slightly dark eyes and the realization that it was my wedding anniversary. We came to visit my father-in-law this week because it coincided with the Utica Boilermaker, a 15k road race. While packing, I prepared for the race, not an anniversary dinner (oops.) Poor planning in addition to a blow to the face / nose the day before meant that I was ill-prepared for a nice evening with my husband. Here’s what I did to get ready, without synthetics, much money or time.
In classic movie scene style, I dumped the makeup bag I had with me on the counter to survey its contents. A brown eyeliner, a pink blush, mascara, lip balm and a burgundy mineral eye shadow I might wear at Christmas. Absolutely nothing else, not even earrings. Certainly not enough to hide the oncoming bruising or put me into a romantic frame of mind!
Local Shopping: A quick walk to the drugstore with our toddler in tow resulted in some budget friendly upgrades. Finger nail polish remover, a clear polish and a white pen for a French manicure, some random brand of mineral based eye shadow called Mermaid’s Tail (light blue and highlighting pink) and a blue eyeliner called denim. Total cost: $25. Despite my toddler’s best efforts, I did not buy neon orange, yellow or iridescent green finger nail polish!
However, at the toddler’s insistence, we walked through a child’s clothing boutique, where I scored a pair of earrings that matched my intended top for $2 made by the boutique owner’s daughter. (She was so excited to sell a pair of earrings, I heard her whisper to her mom about the sale as we left.) Awesome deal on local art by youthful artists.
Local Haircuts: On a our walk home, we stopped past a Hair Salon. The wonderful lady accommodated us, letting my son play nearby while she gave me a great cut. My father in law lives in small town America, so my cut only cost $13. I was so surprised, I had to tip well! In fact, they don’t accept credit cards, so I had to run home and get cash to pay her.
Homemade Facial: Once at home, I raided the kitchen of a widower to create a quick facial for myself. Luckily, there was baking soda, lemons, olive oil and sugar. I started by washing my face, then created a facial steam by placing a wet facecloth in the microwave for two minutes. I followed the steam with a baking soda paste scrub, which always helps clean out my pours. I usually make a more complete paste that is more effective, but I was time and ingredient limited today. I followed the scrub with a light application of olive oil and water, simply mixed in the palm of my hand. After this, my skin looked healthy, and ready for the makeup later.
Sweet Hands: Naturally, I started with removing the chipped fingernail polish. A quick round of the emery board shaped my tips and then I was ready for the smoothing scrub. If you have ever attended any of our facials evenings, you will remember the lemon and sugar scrub that leaves fingers and palms refreshed and smooth. A palm full of sugar and a few drops of lemon juice from the lemon coupled with vigorous rubbing creates a glaze that softens and refreshes callouses and skin. With smooth hands and shaped nails, my fingernails were ready for the self-applied French Manicure.
Sugar Scrub: It probably wasn’t necessary, but *was* my anniversary, so I created a quick sugar scrub with just olive oil and sugar, approximately 1 Tablespoon of olive oil and 1/4 cup sugar. Into the shower for some pampering and relaxing. Besides, shouldn’t sweet, smooth hands be attached to recently exfoliated arms? Aaah.
Make Up: I am by no means a make up artist, but years of staring at the same face in the mirror has at least led me to be able to put make up on my face acceptably. For real hints and tips, visit Make You Special. However, this is what worked for me today in light of what I had available for my now very short blonde hair, blue eyes.
Eyes: The light pink from the Mermaid Tail mineral eyeshadow lightened my undereyes considerably. Not typically what I would do, but I had no base or foundation, and I was still fighting some light bruising. It also became the base for my eyes. I used the blue from this package as the base on the lids as well. I intended to use the Denim colored eye liner, but it turned out to be some electric blue shade reminiscent of the 80s, so I instead used it as a base, to cover some of the red still around my eyes, then went over the top with the brown eyeliner. The result was surprisingly acceptable. Follow that up with mascara, I was pretty happy.
Cheeks: I seldom use a straight pink blush because my coloring doesn’t lend itself well without blending in an apricot to make it look natural. However today, this pink helped lighten the effects of the bruising. A light dusting over the bridge of my nose and under my eyes was surprisingly effective. As a result, I think the pink on my cheeks worked out better than usual. Granted, this was not a heavily made up look, but I was happy to look pretty and unbruised!
Lips: The wonderful fact of mineral makeup is that it is so versatile. I could hardly go to my anniversary dinner with lips unadorned! So I used a combination of the Christmas burgundy, the blush and the pink from the eyeshadow for highlights over the top of the lip balm. I was happy.
Overcoming a series of challenges, I now felt relaxed, pretty and prepared for a wonderful dinner alone with my husband, a luxury we seldom get to enjoy.
