Make-up routine

Like other working moms who send their kids to school in the morning, I don't have time to put on my make-up before I leave the house. So I do it when I get to work, usually after eating breakfast. And usually there are one or two other moms taking up the mirror space in the washroom with me, and we all share a laugh with one another when we're doing this routine. There is one working mom who works downstairs that sometimes comes in at lunch time, and she's putting her make-up on then! And when I say 'routine' I'm not just talking about foundation/powder, lipstick, I'm talking about the whole toner, lotion, face-blotter, foundation, powder, blusher, eye-liner, mascara, lipstick. This is the routine the mom downstairs does. And she does it in less than 10 mins too. Or maybe 15. If I pull this same routine, it would probably take me half an hour. My routine is just lotion, powder-foundation, liquid blusher, tudung, lipstick.

One time, me and another mom (Ms. Tan) were doing our morning make-up routine and this blue-eyed young girl was intently watching me put on my blusher (Benefit's Benetint) and as I was dabbing the brush on my cheek and then blending it with my thumb, she asked me, "Are you sure you're supposed to do that?" Me and Ms. Tan stood there for awhile gawking at her with our mouths open until I replied, "Err, yeah... it's a cheek stain." And then the funny part comes next, where the girl replies, "I don't think you're supposed to do that," and stomps out of the bathroom. Me and Ms. Tan start laughing our asses off and couldn't finish our routine until many minutes later. We thought it was so funny, we did that trailing laugh, "hahahahha...ehahaheeee.. eheeee... eheee..." and Ms. Tan couldn't apply her mascara because tears were coming out.

Another colleague of mine, who was not a mom, was standing by the tissue-paper dispenser and was smiling at the whole thing and said, "I guess it's strange to see the way other ppl put on make up!"

And I couldn't agree more! Before I became a mom, I used to think it was so weird (in an interesting way) the way the mom downstairs would perform her make-up routine. She calls it "putting on her face", which funnily enough is the same term my mother uses. Mom downstairs is forty-ish, and has long brown, wavy, bouncy hair, and dresses really hip. She has pretty good skin and is proud about not doing botox. And before I became a mom, I thought it was so funny the way she would do her whole entire make-up routine, right down to putting on the towel-hairband to push her hair back from her face so she can apply her face lotion. But now I understand. Because a woman still has to look good. And if you can't do it at home, do it at office!