A Triste with Makeup

Recently I had the privilege of sneaking into a 'Grooming Session' organised by a LGBTQI organisation, at my organisation. The 'Grooming Session' was the final day of a two day Gender Workshop organised by the same organisation to celebrate Pride Week. I loved the fact that leaders and professionals of the community came forward and spared their time and shared their expertise with a group who do not have access to such information. I missed the earlier session of clothes and body types and colours. But I made it a point to sneak in during the makeup tutorial. Why? Well, because the only makeup I know to apply is eye makeup, a bit of blusher/bronzer and lipstick. Which has served me well so far, but I as of late, whenever I go to a wedding, have felt extremely inadequate in this sad excuse for makeup on my face, in comparison to my friends and the rest of young almost-flawless-beaming-skinned lasses.

Do you really need all these products?

The professional beautician/makeup artist ran through a myriad of make up essentials....which I had to scramble to write down every single number and remember the sequence of application! As I scribbled on I did wonder aloud to my colleague of the actual possibility of me remembering all these and actually doing it...Yes, I who look for the least wrinkled shirt to wear to work every morning, and who can not bother checking for the height of the pleats when wearing saree; to actually spend a good 15 minutes painting my face.

There was also the challenge of finding the correct shade of foundation for my skin. I have a makeup artists nightmare for a face (no i'm not exaggerating, I have been told this by every single makeup artist who has had the herculean task of applying makeup on me). I have three very prominent shades on my face - a dark strip on forehead, light shaded cheeks and a red-ish brown nose. And my chin and jaw have a different shade as well....

My hand looked a bit like this....

Well, with a lot help from the shop assistants and several failed attempts of trying to match the products of foundation to my skin, I finally decided on two shades of foundation sticks. Oh and did anyone know that one stick of foundation will cost you the same price as a pair of shoes! GAH! So yours truly went for the cheaper substitutes. What I found amusing was that the zombie pale faced makeup assistant, insisted I go for lighter shades when I could clearly see that it just would not go with my 'darkness'. Her argument being i'l look dark...eh????
I am dark. I know that. So what? So women wear foundation to get fairer? What happened to the cardinal rule of finding the right shade to "SUIT" your skin? This explains why many of our young women end up looking like they just a paid a visit to the flour mill or suffering from anemia.

End result? Utter disappointment. I couldn't recognize the person starring back at me from the mirror. Ya..the 'flaws' were covered up. But there was no me without those flaws. Every single spot, odd shade, birthmark gave me an identity. If I couldn't recognize myself how would others recognize me? Would they appreciate this 'one-shaded' me? One other thing I realized was, when you wear so much foundation, its akin to wearing a mask. If you blush no one can notice, if you turn red with anger no one can notice. No one can read your subtle facial expressions with all that gunk on your face!

So I decided to embrace my multi-shaded face, and opt only for a bit of powder for 'contouring'. Ya its a fancy makeup term for shaping ones face. Even though I wasted hours selecting and finally applying the stuff AND removing it, it was a life lesson well learnt.

Appreciate your natural flaws....they make you...You.