Making It Up, Part I

Things have been heating up here as I've definitely felt that the details of the day keep jumping up in my face like "WHAT! Yeah, I'm here? Whatcha gonna do about it?!" Maybe I just have a very hardcore inner voice. 

Moving on...this weekend will be the first of a few make-up trials. Make-up and I are not particularly good friends, or should I say that we don't know each other well. I NEVER wear make-up. Essentially  that trip to the MAC counter a few months ago with Special K was my first time even buying something like foundation. I only ever really wear lipgloss or lipstick, but nothing else..nothing...sometimes I feel like I should, but I've been scarred. Yes, that's right scarred!!!!

I'll tell you a story about a little girl who once had Clown Day at her daycamp. She had to put on this awful white face makeup and by the end of the day all the little girl wanted to do was scratch it all off. It felt like aliens were trying to take over her skin. From that day forward, the litte girl never wanted to put anything on her face again... THE END. 

Well I'm sure you guessed that that little girl was me. It took another 23 years to essentially get me to put anything akin to a foundation on my face minus a handful of times. Of the few times I've had my makeup done, it's been done in a way that I felt made me look...well...ugly. Often it was done by people who clearly know nothing about Black women's skin tones and what colors look best on them. Also even when not getting makeup done, I hated makeup shopping because I found it hard to find items that would even look good on me.

The makeup industry has changed drastically to the point where even Queen Latifah hawks makeup.

(source. She look fabulous, by the way)

I think the situation has changed for the better since I was a teenager and now there are many options from a variety of lines that will complement Black women's skin. I finally found MAC several years ago and have been a devotee for quite some time (as are many of the Black women I know). 

Now that I am staring down my first makeup trial, I've had to psyche myself up for wearing makeup for a whole day and trying to figure out what I like and what I don't. 

Perhaps I'll start with a few possible celebrity look-alikes (if you can call them that..I don't really know if I have one..yikes!!!) as a source of inspiration. 

Stay tuned for more as the saga (or trauma..at least in my head anyway) continues.....

source for top pic