A Cinderella Kind of Day

I'm a wallflower by nature. Without makeup, I blend into the woodwork. I outline my eyes each morning with eyeliner, mascara and eyebrow pencil so that I can find my features in a mirror. But try as I might, I just don't do 'dramatic' or stage make up.

Before performing in my first ballroom dance show case, I had help from the experts at our dance studio to help me out for this event. I was told that a person should be able to see my eyes from across the room . False eyelashes and make up to accentuate the eyes are a must. Our female instructor even took time from her day to give me a lesson in applying eye make up. I have attended a class on make up application that one of the pro dancers led.

Try as I might, the most I can come up with is moderately noticeable eyes.

I have tried, tried, tried again and even tried more ... but I can't do the false eyelashes. I have taken my eye makeup and tried my best to emphasize my eyes. It seems that little applicator has a mind of its own and will not allow me to add more makeup than absolutely necessary.

Tuesday night, we were asked to come to the studio to get a picture taken for our local paper. It was the perfect chance to practise my make up application skills. I had time. I would succeed at making my eyes appear noticeable. I could do this!

Step One - eye makeup. I finally figured out why there are four different shades in my eye shadow compact. I thought it was so you had a selection. No. One color is for the brow line; second color for the lid; third color for the crease; fourth color for a dramatic emphasis at the end of the crease (now that I reread this, I realize that I was told this on my very first eye make up lesson).

First, I couldn't apply the brow line color without the darker colors bleeding through the applicator. I applied, wiped off, reapplied, wiped off this color at least four times before I 'succeeded'. The clock was ticking. I hastily applied the lid and crease color; did some fine tuning and adjusting and swabbing and then tried the fourth color for that dramatic flair. A few more swipes with the Q-tip to attempt to make my eyes match. And voila. I looked ... normal.

Step Two - false eyelashes. Even without the glue, I couldn't even come close to fitting them against my eye to see if they needed to be trimmed. Not to be deterred, I applied the glue anyway thinking that may help. Not so much. First time, the glue dried while I was counting the seconds so that it would be tacky. Second time, I succeeded in sticking the lashes somewhere in the vicinity of my eyelash line. They were off center, half glued and definitely not staying where I put them. Time was running out and I only had time to dab the glue off my lash line, reapply eye makeup on that one eye and run out the door.

Step Three - redo Step One, on one eye.

I must mention that half of my problem is that I can't see what I'm doing. Without my contact lenses, I apply eye make up by 'feel'. With my contact lenses, I am still restricted. One of my lenses is for distance; the other is for close up; my brain translates the two messages and with both eyes open, I can see. Close one of those eyes and the remaining eye can only do the function it was set out to do. Thus .. when I apply makeup to the eye that is used for close up, I am going by the blur of what my long distance vision will allow.

Add to this handicap, the fact that I was getting anxious about the time. The seconds were ticking by and I had one completely naked eye.

To make it a little more challenging, the remnants of the glue from the eyelash fiasco made the application of eyeliner impossible.

To further complicate the matter, my eyelid started twitching and I couldn't make it stop. Have you ever tried applying eyeliner with a shaky hand, a twitching eye and glue from an unsuccessful fake eyelash attempt remaining? It didn't happen.

So I hastily applied eyeshadow; threw on my gold lame wear and raced out the door. There seems to be a subconscious need for me to be running out the door without time to check my reflection when I wear gold lamé.

Okay. That is simply the makeup portion of the overall look. Then there is the hair. Oh ... the hair.

I have given up on my hair. I can't do a thing with it. I go from bad to worse. The best I can do lately, is to apply hair product to try and tame it into submission. It isn't pretty in a submissive state. There is nothing about this look that says anyone took any time to make this happen. The sad part, is that it takes two to three attempts to make it look as 'good' as I can get it. It could be worse. I could be bald. But this hair-challenge-of-the-year is such a tedious stress that it is slowly driving me crazy.

At least I have my nails! I thought my nails may not survive the latest growing out session of gel nails. I love, love, love the gel nails. I hate, hate, hate the process of growing them out. But when my real nails finally emerged again, they grew! They didn't break! They were strong and healthy again. Until ... the last few days. I broke my thumbnail on the weekend. I cracked another nail when I was dancing on Tuesday. The edges of my nails are fraying and I'm catching them on everything. My nails were letting me down when I needed them the most.

I tried to Super Glue my cracked nail back together. All I succeeded in doing was making a mess. Glue all over the table, my fingers and a little on my broken nail. The glue on my nail did not stay in one place - it was all over. I had to sand it off. Off of my nail, off of the table, off of the rest of my fingers.

Who has the energy for this?? This beautification process is aging me before my eyes. I see the stress lines multiplying before my failing eyes as I attempt to become someone I'm not.

So ... this morning, I have an appointment for make-up (and false eyelashes), nails and hair. By 1:00, I should be walking out the door, halfway to my overall Cinderella transformation. All that will be left to do, is throw on my gold lamé outfit and race off to the ball ... 'Ballroom With a Twist', that is!!