I’ve now lost count of the amount of times I have used my love/knowledge of make-up to create some sort of social relationship with another female.
You could barely know someone, but once you’re standing in a crowded female night club toilet and you pull out your MAC lipstick in a shade that the woman standing next to you would die for, you’ll suddenly create relationship for life, well ok maybe not for life but it definitely made that trip to the toilet more interesting right? Obviously after having the obligatory half an hour discussion of shades, textures, whats brushes to use “I mean do you even use a lipstick brush??!!” you’ll feel like you’ve just ticked off another box from the list of standard things to expect during a girls night out.
My MAC lipstick collection now has it’s own drawer in my room, (maybe eventually they will have their own room, a girl can dream!) and to guys they will all basically look the same because they’re all dark and red, but us girls know the importance of tones!
The Younger Year’s
I remember when I was younger and I first started trying to take the plunge into wearing red lip colors and I hated them, I thought Red drained out my face and made my teeth look yellow, although this may have partly been down to a 15 year old’s lack of confidence in her body image, I also had no idea about tones, I thought red was red and that was it! My advice … any teenager who is standing in her bedroom plastering on her mums 5 year old bright Red lipstick, go in to a make-up shop, stand in there for about an hour trying them on your hands and just be patient! You’ll l find a color that you love, either that or a make up artist will come over and find it for you.
Example One
The foundation of one of one of my best friendships was built from make-up. Met one of my best friends at uni and amongst a mix of bitching, alcohol, mistakes and make-up an ever lasting friendship was created. Every getting ready to go out ‘day’ (yes that’s right we normally spent a whole day prepping ourselves for a night we probably wouldn’t remember) would involve walking into a department store and buying a new make-up product from one of the counters. My best friend got me into highlighting cheek bones (something which I definitely didn’t think I had) and also showed me that eye shadow isn’t just for drag queens, she taught me some valuable lessons and I can say that our friendship is still as strong as ever, minus the alcohol consumption four times a week.
Example Two
The relationship I now have with my boyfriends mum definitely started forming around the first Christmas present I bought for her (and of course the fact that I love her son to pieces) which consisted of a lipstick brush, a dark maroon lipstick from Revlon and a Classic Red shade nail varnish from O.P.I. She loved all of them and to this day I am still asked for opinions on make-up combinations and lipstick shades, which of course I couldn’t be happier about. Even relationships that start out a tad …. erm rocky! Can be fixed by this neutral female ground which is make-up!
So basically …..
All of us women have a tip or some advice that someone else doesn’t know, make-up provides generations worth of conversation topics! We have the potential to share a common ground with a total stranger just from a lipstick shade! We can build relationships just by suggesting a tip that we would consider part of a standard routine.
So go and give some advice to your daughter, or seek advice from you Nan, build a relationship with your monster in-law *cough* I mean mother in-law! Have an Avon session with your work colleagues. I can guarantee you’ll always find out something new and be able to offer something new. Girls …. go and build your make-up relationships!
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