Good morning, friend. If you’re struggling right now, I’m right there with you.
Nothing personally devastating happened this week (knocks on wood), but the realness of the new world order is sinking in, and it’s manifesting itself in an ever-present tightness in my body.
Like many people around the world right now, I feel the weight of an uncertain future, and it’s heavy. ?
I keep replaying a memory of something I did with Connor a month ago… Wow, it was only a month ago! We were walking down the aisles at Trader Joe’s singing David Bowie while looking for Jojo the stuffed horse (a fun thing they do for kids) and touching everything in sight without a care in the world.
THERE WAS SO MUCH PASTA. And rice! And flour! The frozen food section was gloriously bursting at the seems with bags of frozen broccoli and peas. Nothing was out of stock!
Connor found Jojo the stuffed horse that day, and we walked straight up to one of the sales associates (barely two feet away). He congratulated us and handed Connor her reward — a red lollipop — which she promptly opened and quickly devoured without a second thought.
This was back when Connor still had school to go to and was allowed to physically touch her friends. I also had the bakery… Life was sweeter than I realized at the time.
Today’s makeup was supposed to be inspired by pastel Easter eggs, but for the life me…I just couldn’t get into it. I tried a few times, swiping and playing with purples, pinks and blues, but I couldn’t make it work.
Sooooo, instead of bulldozing my way through it (which is what pre-pandemic Karen would’ve done), I stopped, took a few deep breaths and did what I knew would make me feel good.
Bronze eyes and neutral lips are the makeup equivalent of comfort food for me, so out came the bronze big guns! — Tom Ford Spice eyeshadow (THE BEST CREAM BRONZE), Charlotte Tilbury foundation and MAC lipstick and blush, of course.
I know, I know… How many variations on bronze lids and neutral lips can one girl possibly wear?! (Apparently, it’s a lot!)
But I really, really *needed* this today. I needed to feel normal, even though we all know life is nothing close to normal now and probably won’t be anytime soon.
Makeup worn in this look
- Base: Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream, Charlotte Tilbury Flawless Filter in Tan, Estée Lauder Double Wear Instant Fix Concealer in Medium Deep Warm, MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden
- Eyes: Tom Ford Spice, MAC Coffee pencil, Laura Mercier Caviar Mascara (SO GOOD), Nudestix Brow Pencil, MAC Brown Set in Clear
- Cheeks: Chantecaille Radiance Gel Bronzer, MAC Pro Face Palette Bright Blush
- Lips: MAC Cosmo lipstick
You hang in there, OK? Sending a warm virtual hug. ?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. TGIF!
Hang in there! We’ll get through this.
Yes we will. One day at a time, and one swipe of lipstick at a time.
Happy Friday to you, my friend!
Thank you for your posts and pics. They are very well-written and I agree, I was just starting to get over the loss of my kitty Static and reminding myself to enjoy the coming spring and Easter, when in no time life shut down here in CT. But my family is OK – setting up my granddaughter’s tap class on Zoom soon. We do what we can.
Thank you for reading the posts, DeeDee. I hope you and your family stay safe and healthy!
Ah, Karen. I’ve been doing pretty good most days but some days…not so much. I get frustrated homeschooling boys (seven years and five years) who don’t want to be homeschooled. They bicker, the laundry is piling up high (how is that possible?) and husband locks himself in the home office. A happy time for me was a month ago when the boys were at school and I went perfume shopping at Neiman Marcus. The manager gave me plenty of samples and we talked forever.
But we are all feeling the same lows in one way, shape or form. Just remember you cannot control everything around you. But you can control how you respond to it. I respond with a spritz of perfume.
By the way, my local TJs has a lobster (this is New England) for kids to find. And doggone it! I actually found it but my kids were not with me. So I pointed it out to a random little boy. Made his day!
Keep on keeping on…
And I love your necklace!!
Thank you! It’s by Misa Jewelry, and it’s called the Branch Necklace.
That’s so true, Pamela. I can only control my response to the situation… Gotta keep giving myself gentle reminders of that.
Did you end up getting a perfume when you were at Neiman’s? Lately I’ve been wearing a lot of Aerin florals — they feel so springy to me. Waterlily Sun has been a fave. I’ve also been wearing a lot of Clinique Happy, too. It’s so old school but it’s cheerful, and I need that right now.
Waterlily Sun and Happy are great choices! I have them, too. At NM, I splurged on a big bottle of Jo Malone Gardenia & Oud Absolu–and I love it! Take care of the family and yourself!
I’m so with you sister, been having those same feels. Today I did full glam (my version, anyway) for no reason, including liquid liner, and when Livvy was getting curious I used the liner to draw hearts on her hands. ? Hang in there!!
Another great posting. I’ve been working from home for the past three (?) weeks. For our staff meeting yesterday, we had to show our faces, so I put makeup on for the first time in three weeks. The days all blend together, so difficult to believe it’s been that long. It did make me feel better, so maybe I should do it more often.
Your comment about Trader Joe’s reminded me the look of bare shelves a couple of weeks ago. The grocery store I usually go to didn’t have hardly any meat the first time I went. The next time they had a better supply, but there was a limit of two per customer.
When I went to a smaller store later and they had a full case of meat with no limits, I thought this must feel like refugees who come to our country and see a large store. (I realize that’s an exaggeration, but it’s what I thought.) I never appreciated the fully stocked meat case with no limits. Just something I took for granted. Wonder how long it will be until I take it for granted again.
I like the idea of doing makeup that is sort of like comfort food. 🙂
It’s crazy how much has changed in such a short period of time. I took Louis out on a walk this afternoon and people were out taking walks and mowing their lawns. It felt nice to have some kind of normalcy for a Friday afternoon.
Hope you and the family have a great weekend!
Thank you for this post. The effects of quarantine and the news,informations across the world are stressful, difficult and sad. I am currently Golda Meir’s Twin Strangers. Big (long distance, covid-19) hugs from Greece. Stay safe, stay healthy and strong!
I hear you! I had a zoom call with some friends last night and one of the moms talked about an article she saw that said one thing that makes this so hard is that previous decisions you didn’t think much about now are suddenly major decisions. instead of “oh I need to go to the store” and you hop in and go you think “I need to go to the store, what do I need to do to protect myself, will I be okay, will I bring a deadly virus home” and suddenly these previously normal decisions become decisions of life or death.
I ordered some makeup last week from the KVD Beauty sale that was going on. it was really fun to have the package arrive and have something new to play with. I often use makeup to portray or boost or alter my mood. One of the lipsticks I bought was called damned and it was a dark color. I love a dark lip. I put it on because I needed to have a serious conversation with my husband last night and that lipstick helped give me the courage to do so. ❤️
Seek all the comfort you can find whether it’s the from a trusted lipstick shade or a favorite recipe or snuggles with those you love. ❤️?
Hello Karen,
Take care of yourself and your family <3
Crazy times… I am feeling weird, because just some month ago I was beating myself up for being a bit of a hoarder… 16 shower gels, 8 tubes of sunscreens and 33 lip products in da house. So I declared 2020 my no buy year…
I know I am a bit of a hoarder: whenever I bought something like a pack of noodles or rice, a can of beans for chili con carne, a piece of soap, a good cheap sunscreen or shower gel (you see the problem?) I ALWAYS tend to buy TWO pieces of it, instead of the one I currently need (or not need in the case of lipsticks and shower gels 🙂 )
And now with quarantine and empty shelves I am feeling relieved for not having to worry about having enough soap and shower gel etc in the house…. although I know I still have too many lipsticks… and it feels weird.
We now try to help our local restaurants and order take away (although we usually do not eat in restaurants a lot, it is a special event like for birthday etc…), because they struggle a lot and my boyfriend and I both still have to go to work – so we have enough money to try to help a bit…
It feels like everything is turned upside down…