Step Aside, Mary Kay

I love makeup! I love it! Always have and always will. Some of my earliest memories were of makeup. I remember watching my grandmother’s morning Mary Kay ritual, which transformed her into your typical Stepford-looking ‘50s wife. I stood beside my mother, looking in the bathroom mirror, examining her every move as she prepared for her Sweet Adeline’s concert. I imagined it was me getting ready for work, as I curiously fingered the makeup (I was silently hoping she would suggest I try it). Every time I turned around, my mother was yelling at me for playing with her makeup growing up. I was obsessed.

When I was thirteen, as a rite of passage, my mother took me to the Shopper’s Drug Mart makeup counter and had a professional choose my products and show me how to apply them. My mom spared no expense and put me on a relatively expensive line of skin care at a young age, proclaiming she wished she had listened to her mother earlier in life as she pointed out her wrinkles. In college, my friends would always proclaim, “When I have a daughter, I’m going to get you to teach her how to put makeup on.” It was because I never went overboard. I knew how to enhance – it was the artist in me.

So, you can imagine how patiently I have been waiting for my tomboy-ish daughter to ask me about makeup. It felt like forever. All I can say is step aside Mary Kay – momma’s got a plan.

 

Janet Smith is a proud single-mom of one daughter and a marketing professional who is grateful for her rural roots in the London area. She is a big believer in connecting with people through laughter and honesty.