Saucer Depth

I was thinking about the comment Mutley made on my last post. I read it this morning as I cuddled up to my cup of coffee. I must confess to being a touch irritated. Being called a chav before I'd finished my coffee was a bit much; and then I laughed. I was irritated because I had been wondering about it myself.

I meant to do some research before I posted here, but I'm running out of energy, so I'll give you my thoughts and if it means that much to you, you can go off and do some research yourself. To decorate the human body is one of the oldest pastimes besides sex. Consider primitive tribes all over the world. They find ways of decorating, tattooing, piercing, scarifying their bodies. Body art and decoration acts as a way of showing social status, marital status, gender, age. It also acts as the preparation for rituals, coming of age events, weddings, funerals etc. I remember watching a programme, I think it was the Discovery Channel, and there were a group of bare breasted women, plaiting each other's hair and painting each other's bodies with red ochre, then they all went off to the social event singing and dancing.

I never did the make-up thing before this Christmas. It seemed too indulgent, too selfish. I had a couple of lipsticks for a few years going furry at the bottom of my handbag. Very rarely bothered with it when I went in to work, might slap on some gloss for an evening do. When I got those 9 days in the department store I had to learn really quickly about fragrances, cosmetics, make-up etc. And I have to say, I liked what I saw. I've gone from 1 fragrance to 8 (a lot of them are testers), I've gone from one small bag with an eyeshadow, a gloss and lipstick, to 2 boxes and a basket full of cosmetics and make-up. I have moisturisers for day and evening, serums to hydrate and prevent wrinkles, toner. Not forgetting Touche Eclat, which really is a girl's best friend, hides all manner of sins. Then there's 3 foundations (2 powder, 1 lotion), pressed powders and blusher. I've got eye shadow pallettes and singles. I've got eye liners and lip liners, masscara and lip glosses and lip sticks and pots. Oh, I'd nearly forgot about the little pot of shiny loose eye powder. Then there's the latest, my nail varnishes and of course the nail varnish remover.

I admit that it's probably a touch over the top, but I love it all.

In my experience men don't notice very much about a woman's appearance. If you ask my Viking, I suspect he'd tell you he's completely unbothered by my wearing make-up. I suspect he'd rather I didn't bother, because there would be a chance we might get somewhere on time. He likes me just the way I am. Which is lovely beyond belief.

But I don't wear make-up for him. Or any other man, for that matter.

Although, it's lovely to think that appearances don't matter, I think of the women I know who are au naturel. They've generally had low-self esteem, seriously lacked confidence and were quite unhappy in themselves and in their relationships. The women I know who wear a bit of slap aren't necessarily any more sorted or together, but they tend to be a bit more spikey and pluckey.

I wear make-up for me. It makes me feel good. It might very well be argued that because I'm feeling good, I want to look good. I'm in a period of my life where I'm content with where I'm going, what I'm doing and who I'm sharing my journey with. Or perhaps I've just discovered that I've really got the emotional depth of a saucer.

By the way, the Bronzeberry still looks fabulous.