The Price of Beauty?

Boy, have things changed. I can remember when I was in my late teens-early twenties, it used to be fun to look at and buy make up. Even though I always bought my make up at the local Kmart, Walmart or drugstore (who'd spend extra at department stores in the mall when you could save the money and do something fun with it, after all?), but there was always a pretty nice selection. It was always fun to pick and choose, take my time. That was well over a decade ago.

I haven't purchased make up in probably a decade now. Well, except for one mascara when my old one went dry. And I bought some lipsticks when my sister did Avon. Now the lipsticks are all aged, dry-sticky and don't smell good. This hasn't been much of an issue for me, I rarely wear makeup. Even when I worked in an office, they refused to turn the air conditioner to an acceptable level and my makeup melted off my face, anyway, so I figured there was no use and I stopped wearing it altogether. So for the past decade or so, I have only worn makeup maybe a couple times a year, like if we go to a holiday party.

Well, this weekend there is a planned "Girl's Nite Out" with some old friends I haven't seen since highschool. I'm nervous because I hate when people are shocked to see me after all these years, I'm not as young and thin as I used to be! So I figured I should probably (reluctantly) splurge on a little new makeup and at least attempt to look better. Since we had to pick up a few grocery items tonight after I got off work (late!), I decided to try that new eyeshadow set by Almay for "smoky eyes"...I have to admit I primarily wanted it because it details exactly HOW to apply which colors to where on your eyes, something I think I never really knew. I was appalled that the set (including coordinating eyeliner/mascara) was $14.48! I thought I'd be clever and just buy the shadow set alone and get a cheap eye pencil, but there is no such thing! The eyeliner pencils that I used to get for 99 cents are now $5-$6 apiece!! My head was spinning... Boy, have things changed!

I decided to forego a new lipstick...perhaps I'll find one that is not too far gone in my drawer. All I can say is I probably spent the least amount of time on the makeup aisles (maybe 15 minutes) that I ever did, but I was more stressed than ever. It just wasn't the same as it was so long ago. Sigh. Since it was so late, I gave up entirely on the idea of throwing together the quick meal I'd had in mind, and we bought frozen crap instead. So I baked up a Totino's pizza and made myself a cocktail to relax after the experience. Geez, am I glad that's over!!