Out With the New, In With the Old

 

It’s Monthly Theme time!  I swear Ms. Kitty must have picked this one with me in mind!  I love makeup.  I have since I can remember.  In fact, when I was three or four years old, Mattel debuted a line of Barbie Cosmetics.  I asked for that for my birthday, and my uncle complied…buying me one of every single item in each color.

I think I got to play with it for all of two days before my mother made it all disappear.  She was never much for makeup herself (beyond a little lipstick here and there) and she always hated that I was so interested in it.

I’m not the most creative person in the world.  I don’t paint or draw or craft or sew or anything like that.  It’s makeup where I get creative, and my face is my canvas. I wish I were better at getting makeup photos, actually, because I could see makeup and makeup looks taking up a much bigger part of the blog if I could.

In this post, I’m going to do two things: talk about my very favorite makeup brand, and show off my dressing table.

I was first introduced to Merle Norman in 2004. I had been searching for years for the perfect foundation for my fair and very oily skin.  Their Lasting in Cream fit the bill more than anything ever had.  It went perfectly with the Flawless Effect pressed powder.  It was pricey, but it was worth it for me.

You can’t buy Merle Norman cosmetics online – it’s only available in their independently owned studios.  The first thing I did when I was considering moving in with my husband was check to see if there was one nearby!  And there was.  Unfortunately the Alexandria store closed soon after I moved here.  That left the nearest one more than ten miles away in heavy traffic.  I was hesitant to ask him to drive me that far, given how much he hates driving and traffic. So I just…did without.

But the Clinque I’d been using for the last few months didn’t seem to be agreeing with me.  On my trip to West Virginia in June, I popped into my old studio for some Lasting.  They were out!  But they were nice enough to give me a tube from the makeover station to tide me over.  And then they special ordered it for me.  My aunt then picked it up and had it shipped.  Sure enough, the weirdness with my skin cleared up, and Alex agreed that it was worth the drive to Vienna if I loved Merle Norman that much (and it loved me right back).

If you have trouble matching foundation, or with finding a formula that works with your skin, I suggest trying Merle Norman.  The staff is actually trained for it.  Personally, I haven’t had a bad experience in a Merle Norman studio yet.  I always enjoy my visits and I always leave feeling good.

Below are some of my favorite Merle Norman products…old and new.

Lasting Foundation. It’s a matte finish liquid for really oily skin. And it does last!

Flawless Effect pressed powder. By far my favorite pressed powder ever. It gives a wonderful soft focus effect.

I’ve had these forever. I don’t think they make Remarkable Finish anymore, actually. And certainly not in Fair. The sparkly powder next to it was a limited edition.

My two tiny powder compacts. The one on the left is a purse sized special edition. The other was part of a free gift. I’m not sure how I’ve held on to them this long. The teeny one has never been used.

Ultra Powder Foundation in Ultra Fair. I understand that this is now the fairest product they make. Unfortunately, it was a bit too heavy for touch ups for me, so I did go snag some Flawless Effect. But the next humid summer I think it will be perfect.

“Back in the day,” I also loved Merle’s eye shadows and mascaras.  I can’t wait for my next trip to the studio – I’ve already picked out the shadow shades I want (okay, it’s the same ones I used to wear) and they also have a cold cream I’m itching to try.

And now, some photos of my dressing table and and how it’s organized.  This isn’t everything – I still have a box of stuff in the bathroom closet – but these are the products I use most right now and the ones I want to be close to hand.  I was very lucky to find this particular dressing table at a great price.  Malice is quite the thief and she loves makeup brushes.  I keep the drawers lined with Viva paper towels, so that they’re easy to keep clean.  I also keep a Swiffer cloth handy to wipe away the fall out from my brushes.

My new dressing table. This is where the magic happens.

The face makeup drawer! Powder, foundation, and etc. live here.

The lip drawer! I have a lot of MAC lipstick.

Eye shadow. It’s hard to see, but there is an absolutely huge box of Victoria’s Secret shadows in the back. This isn’t all of my shadow, just what I’ve been using the most – NYX, Urban Decay, Clinique, and VS.

Eye liners and mascaras! Yes, there are two Merle Norman eye pencils in here. They no longer make this formula, more’s the pity. These are grey. The rest are L’oreal and Urban Decay. The mascaras in the back are Maybelline, Clinque, and NYX.

And finally, the brush/sponge drawer. My brushes are mostly Victoria’s Secret and mark. The gorgeous foundation brush on the right is Urban Decay. I love it…I am afraid to use it with the Lasting, though. I once ruined a brush with it.

A couple of weeks ago, I made the mistake of leaving the face makeup drawer slightly ajar when we left to run errands….

I found this when we returned.

What makeup post would be complete without a couple of shots of me at the table?  First a shot of me getting ready for work one morning:

A rare morning when I actually did my hair at home, rather than letting it air dry and putting it up at work. It warranted a photo.

And a post-errand photo from today.

Thanks to Ms. Kitty for hosting today’s theme.  It is sure to go down as one of my favorites.