Laying It On With A Trowel

A couple of weeks ago I read an article in the Guardian Weekend magazine called 'Face Off' (14.07.12, Katie Puckrik), about the recent appearance in public of several celebrities without their makeup. The author elaborated on the theme by herself undertaking 'the challenge of going a full day without wearing makeup'. Well, the challenge for me would be to last a full day wearing the stuff. In our family, we tended towards the rather Victorian notion that only women of 'loose morals' indulged in makeup. A rather glamorous and soft-focused studio shot of my mother at 18 inevitably (still) prompts my father to comment, 'Of course, she really didn't need lipstick'. Well, I need lipstick. I need all the help I can get, but my nature and background unfortunately militate against it. Denied maternal instruction and encouragement as an adolescent, and instinctively loathe to waste time and money, I have to grit my teeth to wield the primer and the powder, the blush and the gloss. Some cognitive behavioural therapy required, I think. It's a tough, tough world out there.