I took a break from the fashion shows to go shopping and wandered into a NYC Sephora. Sounds harmless enough, right?
The problem is that I am weak: I love makeup. I am from Texas, which explains a lot (I like to joke that they teach kindergartners how to apply lipstick.)
At first, I just bought a take-home for the 17-year-old (a skull-shaped eyeshadow from Tokidoki that was way cute.) Then the Dior salesperson, Katya, got hold of me.
"Can I help you find anything?" She asked.
It couldn't hurt to look at a new lip plumper to smooth out lip lines, I thought.
Of course, Dior had one (and they honestly have some of the prettiest packaging for their lip products I've ever seen.)
"I'll take that." I pointed to the Dior Lip Maximizer.
Followed by a lip gloss that brings out your natural lip color, Dior Lip Glow.
"I'll take that, too."
"You look a little tired," the makeup pro told me.
So she fixed me up with concealer – SkinFlash, Radiance Booster Pen – which works great to cover up circles without being too cakey or greasy. It also works as a highlighter and she showed me how to use it on my brow bone.
From there, naturally we moved on to blush (Dior Coral Rivera) My consultant told me I needed blush, not bronzer, and I agree. The peachy color she chose really woke up my skin.
Then we tried a new eye pencil – a bronzey green color – DiorShow Mint — that is spectacular and something I never would've tried on my own. I think women our age need to avoid harsh blacks for liner and this is a great alternative for darker eye colors.
The best thing I bought was the foundation (called AirFlash) – a super light, spray foundation that gives you a natural finish with a bit of a glow. I have trouble finding a drugstore foundation that I love since most of it seems so heavy.
Total damage? $280. Which took my breath away for a minute. Then I realized that the last time I had done a makeover and splurge was at a Sephora in Manhattan – in 2005.
I guess it was about time.
More about makeovers in middle age: