Changing faces

It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and a truly beautiful person will be beautiful no matter what they wear or how much make up they wear. I have never been a war paint fan mainly because I have no idea what looks good or suits me. However at the grand age of almost 27 I decided that it was time to shake off my 12 year old look and start behaving like the adult I am.

I duly trekked to the Clinique counter, explained my dilemma to the very nice looking woman in her pseudo-clinical lab coat (that bit always makes me feel safer...despite it not being the slightest bit clinical) and then listened. And nodded. And agreed with her. And as I was doing that I started to feel uplifted in a way that has surely got to be innate...instilled into most female children at birth. I started to feel...beautiful. But at the same time there was a bit of me that was laughing at myself. It was as if my inner me was shaking her head and marvelling that I was listening to the sales pitch and above all was being taken in by it.

Fast forward 20 minutes and I am the proud owner of a 3 step skin care program, a new lipstick, mascara, face powder, eye shadow and a tester pot of a tinted moisturiser...and as an added bonus, 6 little tester things, moisturiser, cleanser, lip gloss, bronzer, mascara and toner. Free gifts (although not really free seeing as I bought the regular sized products anyway) are possibly the best way to make sure I go back for more...and I am not afraid to admit that I will go back.

One question though still remains - have I bought into a marketing ploy? Have I allowed my insecurities about my appearance to be taken advantage of by cosmetics producers? And if I have...is that really so wrong? Can I be proud of my unmade up face at the weekend while having a made up face in the week? The answer is yes. I am the same person as I was before. It would seem that being two faced is not always a bad thing!