NEVER, EVER underestimate the awesomeness of both good and fantastically great, ass-kicking AWESOME mascara and what it can do for your eyes! If I were stranded in an island and only allowed one cosmetic product, it would have to be,,hands down, mascara. Not just mascara but a really good mascara for daily use and a smokin’ hot luscious mascara for those other occasions when I need real WOW factor AND staying power.
Holy Wrinkle Erasers!!!
Now that my visage is showing the effects of my age and time (as it marches across my face), I am always looking for products that will help erase my hard worn wrinkles (like a time machine) or, more realistically, at least diminish the appearance of my wrinkles, especially those deep forehead creases that have been well honed through years of squinting. Besides always using an SPF to try and minimize sun damage (especially after years of the tanning bed as a teen), I like to mix my foundation or BB creme (more on that, later) with an SPF lotion made for the face, so when I needed new product the other day, I decided to try a generic version of L’Oreal’s RevitaLift Miracle Blur, SPF 30 (CVS pharmacy generic brand, see photo below) and first did a test and applied the product to only one half of my forehead and see if I could tell a difference. Boy, could I! 
Check out the right side of my forehead (above pic) and the very noticeable reduction in wrinkles as compared to the left side. I plan on next trying to mix the product in with my liquid foundation or BB creme (I use both, depending upon my need that day) and seeing what it does to my entire face and see if it will replace my regular SPF lotion or if the smoother will work best by dabbing into the wrinkles and then applying my regular SPF lotion and foundation. I don’t know how long this product will reduce the appearance of my fine lines and wrinkles. Apparently it is based upon the diffusion of light. It could be based upon the fusion of uranium for all I care. I am MOST DEFINITELY impressed with the results, especially for a price under twenty bucks!
Prepare your canvas: Cleanse, Exfoliate, Moisturize!
Just as a true artist prepares a canvas before painting, we must do the same with our face. Our face is the canvas upon which we paint our masterpiece and cleansing properly is key. I like to cleanse thoroughly at night before bed, removing all makeup and cleansing my face and neck and décolletage. Prior to application, usually in the morning, I cleanse my face lightly before applying makeup.
My cleanser of choice is Cetaphil. 
Most drug and grocery stores carry their own generic versions which are less costly but of the same quality. Once available by prescription only, Cetaphil is a cleanser so gentle that it doesn’t irritate sensitive skin and can even be applied and left on without rinsing. I prefer to slather it all over my face, add a splash of water and use disposable makeup removal towelettes to vigorously scrub my face, removing my makeup in the process. Cetaphil will remove mascara, too, just don’t get it into your eyes because it makes things blurry. If it does get in my eye, flushing the affected area with either cool water or a saline solution (for we contact wearers of the world) helps tremendously.
My “Good night” cleansing routine involves the following: After thoroughly rinsing and patting my face dry, I apply a generic brand of Strivectin cream (this is a fantastic and expensive brand name product that can be purchased for far less money as a generic brand at both CVS and Walgreens. – I prefer the CVS brand) to my face, neck and décolletage. After fifteen to twenty minutes, I begin rubbing my face in aggressive, circular motions to help loosen and exfoliate dead skin. Once all old skin is removed, I apply a light alcohol free toner (I am currently using an inexpensive Olay product but Neutrogena makes a great alcohol free toner, too) 
to face, neck and décolletage and then slather a moisturizer all over. I am currently using Cetaphil cream (generic version) but for some this can clog the pores so it is best to,experiment around. I also love the Olay brands of moisturizers and purchase the generic versions whenever I can. Finally, I sleep on it – literally – letting the moisturizer sink in and replenish my aging skin.
As far as my morning cleansing routine or any cleansing prior to,applying makeup, I lightly wash my face with Cetaphil cleanser, rinse with cool water, pat dry and then blend a facial moisturizer with sunscreen (I am partial to Neutrogena’s greaseless varieties, which are available as generics, which cost considerably less than brand) with a foundation that closely matches my skin shade. Currently I am partial to,using a BB cream as a foundation because it goes on so sheer and is easy to blend. While it may not provide a thick, matte coverage that
covers all blemishes and discolorations, personally, I prefer a more sheer look that leaves me looking as if I have no base on at all, even if this means showing some minor imperfections. I think the imperfections lend an authenticity to the look and make my face look more organic. For casual or day wear, I don’t find that I need a heavier foundation and even when using foundation over a BB product, I make sure to mix in a generous amount of moisturizer with SPF. Once my face is dry, My canvas is prepped and I am ready to begin painting my masterpiece! 
Just “why” and exactly “how” does one become a real Makeup Whore?
My journey started the summer before I entered middle school. I saw that the older girls in my neighborhood began wearing makeup once they entered middle school and wanting to be both “older” and the C-word – come on, I MEANT COOL, I anxiously awaited my time to come. As luck or fate would have it, I was born the eldest girl in a family where neither my mother or grandmothers wore makeup (***GASP!***) and I had no one, not even a friendly neighborhood drag queen, to take me in hand, under wing and guide me.
So, what does a chubby, short 12 year old with bad hair and no fashion sense do to ensure that not only does she have access to good product but doesn’t leave the house looking like a paint-by-number cartoon version of “BabyJane?” Have your DAD (yes, dad, and mad props to him for doing that) drive you to the local department store to visit the family friend of your uncle (actually, his childhood girlfriend) who happens to be a makeup artist who works behind the Estée Lauder Beauty counter (he also took me to buy my first training bra – at my mother’s instruction, but that’s a whole other story for an entirely different blog). Taking in the dazzling array of glamour-spun powders, color popping blushes, eye shadows and of course, lipsticks, for the first time was one of those heart stopping moments life is so enchantingly made up of. Within those shiny glass display cases, among the applicators, brushes and puffs, was MY passport to the wondrously exciting world of being a GROWN-UP (or at least, what a twelve year old girl THINKS being a grown-up is)!
What exactly is a Real Makeup Whore?
So what is a REAL MAKEUP WHORE and HOW do you know if YOU are ONE? Do you love makeup? No, scratch that. Do you LOOOOOOOOOOVE makeup?!?!?! No matter whether it is the bargain brand from the local drugstore to the premium product you purchased at a high-end department store’s beauty counter, or even the homemade do-it-yourself kind you mixed in your kitchen using Kool-Aide and Vaseline, do you feel incredible thrill when you see makeup on sale and when you purchase some, rush home to try it on? Do you have so many different cosmetics that you own a large Craftsman metal tool and storage box to hold your makeup, only to find that you can’t fit everything? Does your dressing area look like the local Sephora store just exploded in your bathroom? Have you been holding onto and coveting an eye shadow you’ve had since high school because they don’t make that shade anymore? Would you or have you actually used money you intended to pay a bill with and use it to instead buy not one, but two of the most amazingly luscious mascaras ever because you refuse to be caught dead without thick, long and lovely lashes? Do you love playing in and with makeup, even late at night when the only place left to go is to bed, alone? Is the longest romantic relationship you’ve ever been in, been with a particular cosmetic? If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, you, too, might just be a “makeup whore!”
The purpose of this blog is to collect my thoughts on and revel in my love for ALL THINGS MAKEUP, especially as a single mother who is on a budget. Those “common” brands sold in drugstores that I once so hastily eschewed in favor of the more decadent department store brands are now my go-to product, my love and my challenge, as I thrill in finding quality cosmetics at amazingly affordable prices, figuring out inventive ways to get extra mileage out of cosmetics that have seen better days and using them to transform myself or someone else. I was blessed with a son, and since my mom doesn’t wear make-up, I pretty much have only my face to transform these days (grown women tend not to like it when a stranger accosts them with makeup in public and as it turns out, men don’t either – go figure) and so this blog is devoted to my daily love, use, and enjoyment of all things makeup and my life as a self-described real live “makeup whore.”
therealmakeupwhore 