The Imperfect Parent - Articles || Mother Magnetism

PUBLISHED February, 2007
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Mother Magnetism

Permanent eyeliner, blush techniques, discontinued makeup colors, and the next hot idea in skincare.

by Kelly Reising

I find it very tiring to do a full face of makeup everyday, so I am hoping to skip a step by getting my eyes done with some permanent eyeliner, what do you think?

Needles near your eyes!! Needles near YOUR EYES!! That’s all that I need to know to dissuade anyone from attempting to get permanent eyeliner done. Just to give you the hardcore facts, the procedure involves the use of a hand-held device that punctures the skin hundreds of times per minute with a very thin needle that embeds the ink in the skin. Did I mention that it’s a NEEDLE NEAR YOUR EYE?! That and the tendency to come out looking like Michael Jackson. As far as the risks versus the benefits go, you do have to consider that the concept of having permanent eyeliner on a bare face just looks bizarre. Sometimes women look most beautiful completely bare faced, hair all over the place. Plus, with permanent eyeliner you can’t experiment with different colors. I personally like to change up my eyeliner. Bronze, aqua, navy, or plum are a few of my favorites. Besides, eyeliner looks best when it’s smoky and smudgy and not perfect. Permanent eyeliner is just a drawn line. In my opinion, it looks perfectly horrid.

Once and for all, where are you supposed to apply blush? What about contouring?

Here is what you need to do: run around the room for about ten minutes, and then jump up and down 20 times or so, singing a silly song. How about “We are the World?” And then after you do all that, look in a mirror. If you aren’t blushing from the workout, you will be from embarrassment. Take a look at your face, and you can tell where you naturally flush. It’s the apples of your cheeks, right? So that’s where you need to apply blush in a swirly motion, right on the apples of your cheeks. That means no streaking lines of blush that extend back to your hairline. It’s unnecessary and will make you look like you are channeling Blake Carrington. Contouring looks silly and only works in photos where everything from the lighting and the perfect face of the model is already taken care of. You just need a little pop of color on the apples of your cheeks. That’s all!

Why do companies discontinue certain makeup items? I loved, loved, loved my cherry bombastic red fusion lip color but they stopped making it? Why are they doing this to me? Why, why, WHY???

Well, the reason companies discontinue making certain colors is for one simple reason. They aren’t selling it. You were probably the only person wearing that color and they just couldn’t keep it in the line just for you. How dare they! If you loved that color and want a replica made for you then what you need to do is grab one of your old tubes and send the entire tube to the company Three Custom Color Specialists (www.threecustom.com). They will, in return for 50 bucks, custom create you two tubes of your favorite lip color. They will even keep your new color formula on file so that you can reorder it anytime at a slightly discounted price. They will make sure it’s as close to the original as possible. Plus, they also keep a file of over 7,500 commonly discontinued colors, so that if there is another old favorite that you want new again, they can make that dream come true for you!

What’s the next hot idea in skincare?

I have to say that I think the industry is going to make a big push for luxury organic skincare. Stella McCartney is leading the way with her new skincare line called CARE. It’s available exclusively at Sephora.com. For me though, I am not overly into the whole organic movement. Every once in a while I will buy some organic grapes for my kids, but the pricing to me just doesn’t justify the reasoning. CARE is also more expensive than your average skincare. And does skincare really need to be organic? I say if it’s the chemicals and additives that are going to make my skin look flawless then bring it on! I am also very confused by the ad for this new line. It features a naked woman holding a baby lamb. I look at the ad and think, “Aw, cute, there’s a baby lamb!” and then I think, “Eeewww, gross! There’s a naked woman holding a baby lamb!” Are you supposed to feel that her skincare is as natural as frolicking naked with farm animals? Doesn’t seem natural to me, just kinda weird.

The OSCARS- Most Magnetic!

So who do I think was the most "magnetic" at the Oscars? Well, it certainly wasn’t Cameron Diaz, with her overly bronzed face, sloppy hair, and dress made out of a starched white sheet. Nor was it Nicole Kidman who looked like a red car with one of those big dealership gift bows stuck to it. You know the ones in the commercials, right? You see the husband surprise the wife with a car for Christmas or something and on it is a gigantic red bow? No one really does that, nor should anyone attempt to actually wear one. Yep, that was Tom’s ex! No, my overall chicest celebrity last night was our favorite mother of fruit. Yes, Apple’s mom, Gwyneth, who was perfection in a salmon-colored Zac Posen dress. Her ruby red lips and shiny, long hair are getting my “Most Magnetic Award” for the evening. In my opinion, an evening that lasted way too long and kept me up until 12:30am. So now I am off to put some drops in my eyes and a boat load of concealer under them!