Facing Challenges

When it comes to makeup, I have always had several challenges. Over the years, those challenges have grown and now I'm having to learn how to paint my face all over again.

To begin with, my skin, all of it, but especially my eyes, has a high level of sensitivity. I have to be so careful about what I wear so that I don't end up with watery eyes or a watery nose. Half the time, my eyes will tear up and just ruin whatever makeup I have on. I have to be careful about scents on my face and around anything on said face that can leak.

Speaking of my eyes, I have monolids. This means that most makeup tutorials don't work for me. It also means the ones for mono lids, for some reason, also do not work for me. Over the years, my skin has grown lax and thinner around my eyes (as skin does), which makes any application more of a situation.

I'm also having issues with my brows. They're not lonely thinning, but also graying. This means it's even more difficult to make them look vivid. Of course, with brows, there is also the problem with making them TOO vivid. You have to find the right balance there.

Under my eyes, I have creases and puffiness. There is some reddening around them in the corners. Oh, and lines. There are lots of fun little lines trying to make themselves visible. Plus, the crease from my mono lid wants to continue down over my face.

My nose is broad, crooked, and long. The sides of the nostrils tend to get very dry and red. My lips are downturned, and the upper lip is crooked and far less full than my bottom lip.

Oh, and I'm fat and old.

Don't get it twisted. This is not to say I hate my face. I love my face. It's my favorite canvas to work with. But I also acknowledge that it has a lot of ways that make painting that canvas more arduous. This is going to be a process to learn how to do this for someone my age.

There are things working in my favor. For one thing, a lot of cosmetic companies have started making very clean products that work well to handle sensitivity. That should make application easier. There are also a lot of makeup items that contain skincare aspects, like powders that also function as serums. There are also so many makeup tutorials now. Even if 30 techniques don't work for me, so long as one eventually does, it'll be golden.

So I'm pretty hopeful about this new adventure of mine. I'll keep you updated.