Falsies and Falling in Love

I never saw my mother or my step-mother leave the house without make-up. "That can't be true," you're thinking.  It is.  "They must have gone to the pool or the beach or the hospital," you argue.  They did.

Not only did my mother wear make up every day, my mother wore false eyelashes every day.  I thought it was normal until I was in high school, and then I thought it was embarrassing.  No one else's mother wore false eyelashes.  No one else's mother wore false eyelashes to parties, more or less every day.  I never mentioned to her that it embarrassed me.  I knew she would lower her phony giraffe-like lashes slowly and say, "I like them."

Her lashes, unlike her personality, were skimpy and short. My lashes are long, but pale. I'd rather not consider how they relate to my personality, but I've never worn false eyelashes. Something, however, about that thick, black sweep as she opened and closed her lids must have imprinted on my brain. I do love mascara.

We were not allowed to wear make up at my Catholic grade school, so I did not begin experimenting with mascara until high school. I envied the girl whose locker was across from mine freshman year.  Her hair was so blond it was nearly white and she wore coats and coats of mascara that made her lashes thick and black and pointy.  I wanted to ask her what brand she used, but I did not have the nerve. It wouldn't have mattered. I would not have had the courage to wear my mascara like that any more than I would have kissed a boy behind the door of my locker between classes as she did. Still, I envied her both of these things.

From the time I was thirteen years old I've searched for the perfect mascara. I've played the field.  I'll develop a loyalty, but then a friend or beauty editor will tell me that this mascara - this one - will change my life.  It will make my lashes thicker, longer, lusher. This mascara is the answer. I switch without a backward glance.

This time it was true.  Diorshow is the one.  Each lash distinct and deliciously enhanced.  Two coats almost too much for daytime, though I do wear two coats in the daytime.  Three coats makes me feel like a movie star from a by-gone era of fur stoles and champagne coupes.  Three coats makes it look like I'm wearing false eyelashes.  And I like it.