I tried wearing make-up

I work in the beauty/fashion industry. One of the things we do well is sell make-up. Nice make-up. We do beautiful hair and sell amazing shampoo and we do it with a fairly small carbon footprint and a full heart. I look around at the perky, beautiful, make-up wearing hotties in the office and notice that most of them wear make-up and most of them wear it well. I was talking to some colleagues about this recently and realized that I feel about make-up the way I feel about cleavage: while i'm wearing it, I giggle. I wear mascara and lip-something but that's where the enthusiasm ends. So today, disappointed with the temperature and feeling sleep-deprived, I decided to try out black eyeliner. Leah McLaren wrote a column last summer about how she couldn't believe the extraordinary difference between the lined vs. the un-lined eye. I 'sort of' accidently applied some black-black eyeliner to rim my eyes. It was wrong from the beginning. I kept trying to correct how extreme it looked without starting again and before I knew it, Stephen ( my ride/friend) arrived and I really had to go. When my 3 year old son kissed me good-bye, he was the first of many males to tilt their head and try to figure out just what it was that was "different" about me today?

I got in the car with Steve and I just didn't look at him.I sat down and looked straight ahead for a while trying to remember if my sunglasses were in my purse. When Stephen and I finally looked at each other he smiled and looked forward. He decided to spare me. That courtesy did not last all day.

Upon arriving at work (which involved a significant detour, an argument with a 15 year old police officer too delicate to stand in the cold to "serve and protect', 3 breakfast sandwiches, a free donut and bathroom near miss) the comments began.

A mistake happened at work today that was a random communication mishap resulting in a landslide of questions directed largely toward my department and me. I met with a lot of people today to question, clarify and console various colleagues on several charged issues related to job security, compensation, benefits and the like. It was the wrong occasion to be wearing a new face. I found myself engaged in many conversations, heavily collaborating or debating relevant impactful issues only to be asked mid-session "Are you doing something different with your make-up?" It did look kinda slutty. One of my bosses (the one that told me my ass looked huge when I was pregnant) described it as "haggish". I'm sure he meant it as a compliment. The V.P. of finance said to me a the end of the day after we had had several meetings throughout the day which were serious in nature, "are you trying something different with your eye make-up?" Not a good sign.

In the car on the way home where the greatest catharsis of the day usually occurs. Stephen asked me if I'd ever worn eye-liner before. I told him yes, he just hadn't noticed and that it had all been a mistake and that I had to blog about the day's events. He offered "Racoon or Cougar" as a title. I don't think he liked my make-up. Note to self. When it comes to the economic downturn, in make-up, stay with what you know.