Beauty Doesn’t Last Forever, And Neither Does Your Makeup
When I was in my twenties, I prided myself on the fact that I didn’t wear makeup. I guess that I was having my belated “Hippie” phase, and I thought I was totally cool because I eschewed such extravagances. When false eyelashes were “in style,” I sneered that they made women look like they had Daddy Longlegs on their eyes. Maybe, I was just jealous. But, I didn’t need makeup, and I didn’t look too bad without it. In those days, I didn’t have any varicose veins or wrinkles to hide.
Those days are loooong gone!
Recently, I gathered the nerve to sort through my makeup collection (this is just my travel kit!). Being a hoarder, I had various bottles of foundation that I couldn’t throw away. I wanted to get the last dab out of the bottles! Most of them didn’t even match my skin tone anymore. After a couple of years being cooped up blogging at my computer (instead of working in that garden that calls to me), my skin has faded to pasty white. “Ivory” would be the genteel way to say it. But, I’m as “genteel” as crawdaddies on a paper plate.
Nope, “pasty white” suits me, but none of the makeup I had did. It was all several shades too dark. What was left in the bottles and tubes was mostly thick and icky.
I sorted out my eye makeup, and found some that I would swear I bought before my husband and I met (that would be about 2001). I have many tubes of mascara, but I couldn’t tell you which one was the latest I bought. There was lipstick - some of which had melted when it was in my purse in the summer heat.
I figured out pretty quickly that it was way past time to do something about all this. I know full well that makeup “goes bad.” In fact, old makeup can harbor bacteria that can damage your skin. I need that like I need another hole in my head!
Digging around on-line, I found several sites that had recommendations for how long makeup lasts. The consensus seemed to be that liquid foundations, blush, lip liners and eyeliner should be pitched after six months (powder based foundations last a year). Toss lipstick after three months; mascara after six weeks; and you can keep that eyeshadow for fourteen months.
Dang!
When I got finished, I hardly had any makeup left! Replacing makeup every few months can be an expensive proposition, but it’s better than getting a skin rash or an eye infection. Perhaps I should find a way to simplify my beauty regime?
I guess it’s a good thing that as I get older my eyesight gets worse. That way, maybe I won’t see all the age spots, so I won’t mind if I don’t have much makeup. It ain’t easy being beautiful, is it?
[...] has taken three four tries to finally get ours workable. On my first attempt, I only worked with my makeup. That task took me an entire evening. I had to throw away most of my beauty products because they [...]