Sticking to My Guns

I'm a week and a half into my Lenten makeup exodus. Honestly, it has been quite different than I expected.

First, I thought that at least initially I would hear things like "are you feeling okay" or "you look tired" from my friends and family. The result has been quite the opposite. The sweet secretary, Shawn, at MCH asked, "I thought you weren't wearing makeup during Lent."

I never realized how poorly I cared for my skin until I couldn't cover it up. It makes sense, though. If you can just cover up what you don't like about your skin.. why worry about fixing it? I wash my face more carefully and make sure to get every spot with moisturizer in the morning. It definitely makes me think differently.

I have to be honest and say that I did wear makeup for two hours on Thursday. Well, I didn't. Peggy Pepper did. The 10-2-4 Collector's Club open house required her attendance. Pictured below is Peggy and my boss, Joy. She keeps me out of trouble.




I knew that same evening I was going to be swing dancing, and I knew I was going to want to cheat and not take it off. The opposite happened. I couldn't wait to take that junk off of my face! I took it off as soon as I got home. It was so nasty.

That evening, I noticed that my eyes were bright red.. I thought, great.. pink eye, for the 4th time since July. Since I had worn mascara for the first time in 8 days it did cross my mind that there might be some correlation. I hit Google and sure enough.. my fancy pants lengthening mascara has fibers in it that flake easily, and can irritate sensitive eyes. I was relieved to know the culprit for my pinkeye and promptly threw all the lengthening mascara I own in the trash.

Part of the deal was not to remove myself from any social events. I went to my friend Sherri's birthday party. She was born in 1969, so we obviously had to party like it was 1969 dressed like it was 1969. I was freaking out. I wanted to be Marsha Brady, but I resisted and used my makeup exodus to my advantage. I dressed like a bra-burning women's lib hippie who wouldn't wear makeup anyway. Let's face it. If I were alive then, I'd probably be involved in that craziness.

Here is my friend Caryn, @carynbrown and I ready to party like it 1969!



All that said.. I will never wear foundation/powder again. I don't know how I did it before. I do, however, really miss mascara.

Many thanks to Caryn @carynbrown , and Karen @blissspa for their support and encouragement!

So, Katie, how do you feel about this whole experience. It's amazing. I'd recommend it. It will change your life.