Look of Lurve

I have two friends (absolutely sweethearts) who being former airline crew, are very concerned with beauty and all its manifestations. It was their bed and butter, this looking prim and proper, and they are as polished as glass.

Then suddenly into their live I tumbled and I am pet project number one.

Of course I do not begrudge them. How could I possibly? Yet I did snap at one of them off the other day to stop talking about my appearance every time we meet. I felt so guilty afterwards that I ended up buying a can of hair spray. Talk about being a wimp.

I have mixed feeling about this. Being prouder of being called a geek than a girly girl, I find all this fussing so alien. While I hope I don’t give people the impression that my fashion sense is circa 1883, I seriously don’t give a hoot if I am a Summer or a Winter (which is crucial in determining your colour palette, by the way).

Looks like I am not going to land myself a millionaire playboy anytime soon.

Yet in this day and age, looks do matter. Now THAT I can begrudge. And I can begrudge till the cows come home and the pigs take flight but that there is a fact of life. The hunchback of Notre Dame will never win product endorsements and Angelina Jolie will never be without a job.

Women, we are strange creatures, no? We protect our young with the purest and the best and then slather on potentially carcinogenic war paint to face the world. The drugs we take and mutilations we endure. If I was not a woman myself, I would call us stupid to the point of being insane. Men have known this since time immemorial. Real men don’t wear eye shadow. Nor have tummy tucks.

Due to medical reasons I removed my trademark mole on my upper lip on Friday. This decision had taken me years to make. I can still recall the smell of burning flesh as the laser pierced my skin. I didn’t think I could unclench my toes again. And now I am walking around with what looks like a splat of ketchup on my face. I am told that it will heal. Oh well. This feeling of not giving a toss to what people say, is certainly liberating.