Softly Sometimes

Hey, Internet. I’ve been having a bit of an issue getting a hold of people to feature here on Nosy Beauty, so for the meantime, I’m going to post a new entry (hopefully) every other Friday now, as opposed to every single Saturday, which I used to do before its inevitable, temporary demise.

Anyway, this week, I’ve got Sasha of Go for Garbo, one of my favorite new beauty blogs, and also reader/writer of my favorite book blog: Other Sashas. Enjoy!

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Hello, Carina’s corner of the Internet! My name is Sasha Martinez, and I write for a living. I’m also a gangly, awkward nerdface with a belated but nonetheless ardent fascination with makeup, helped along by ch-ch-ch-changes brought on by a belated and horrifically tedious skincare regimen.

I guess this fascination came to a head when I found myself keeping a dedicated pocket notebook just for makeup thoughts—partly tracking my use of products, partly a skincare diary, mostly arguments with myself re buying two eye palettes in one go, yadda. And then I was asked, months ago, to do a Nosy Beauty post, and I realized I was having such a hard time not going into detail about how a product works on me. And then, I don’t know, this working-it-out-with-myself grew beyond my notebook; that is: I started a secret (hah) beauty blog. Me. The gangly, awkward nerdface with an abiding hysterical fright of selfies. (So here’s a selfie.)

The TL;DR version of my face is: I used to just resignedly, not-too-effectively hide behind carelessly bought, never-updated makeup. I’d spent months (years?) the feeling that my real face was just lurking beneath all of that gunk—not the best thought, really, to have about one’s self, I should think, and in any situation. But I got rid of the Lazies, and my skin’s the best it’s ever looked. Sure, it’s not perfect yet; I can give you a rundown of what’s wrong with each and every pore that has the misfortune to belong to my face; I can never just post a selfie, good lord, ladies, how do you all do it so easily? But makeup’s definitely more fun than it’s ever been.

I am obnoxiously self-indulgent these days when it comes to my skin; I’m making up for lost time. And I’ve become very uptight, too, when it comes to makeup. It takes me months to decide to buy something, as I want nothing short of the Holy Grail. My still-too-short, healthier relationship with makeup and skincare has mostly been me researching what’s worked for other people, more thumb-twiddling re actual purchase, and then hoping against hope that it works for me. The fussiness pays off, though; I’ve consistently found products that make me feel better about myself. And I get to take more selfies, albeit derpily. Like so:

(The violin solo may now be switched off.) So. I bring a teeny makeup kit with me most of the time—but because I am an absolute lazy-pants when it comes to retouching, I hardly reach for it. The things I bring with me are usually just safeties; there are days that I don’t need to reach for this bag at all. This pretty much points to how obscenely long it takes me to get ready going out. (Three cheers for industrial strength base surviving in this tropical, high-summer heat.)

I tend to gravitate towards products that will stay on my face until I will them to leave—or, at the very least, products that will help all the other gunk on my face to stay put, as I’ve always leaned toward oiliness. I like leaving the house confident that I don’t need to worry about my face melting off after the commute; or having to duck into the bathroom before a meeting around lunchtime; or worrying about leaving a smudge on my monitor when I lean in to see tiny type as I’ve forgotten my glasses, which is too often an occurrence, haaay. So I take my sweet sweet sweet, late-for-work-again time. (More so if I decide on a winged eye. Myeh.)

So: Sunscreen, primer, base (sheered out, wahoo!), concealer—all this set with a powder, to the high heavens. I’m still learning how to use blush—didn’t have one until a week ago, shrug, and so far I have just that one—so on it goes when I remember. And then my eyes and my lips figure themselves out. And, for what it’s worth: The Mia Thermopolisian eyebrows of high school are so working for me right now, in the year of our Lord Cara Delevingne.

Everything else is extra, really; everything else should be unnecessary. But they’re such fun to put on. Figuring out what kind of eye to go for, whether I’m going to wing my eyeliner or not, figuring out what kind of red lipstick to wear for the day, figuring out if I can take a chill pill and bust out a nude lip. Discovering orange lipsticks! Finding out that highlighter is magic! It’s all so fun. And time-consuming. Self-indulgent. And alarmingly taking-over-my-desk-y. But fun.

Now that I’m pretty much set with the essentials—skincare, base, yadda—I find myself reaching for other kinds of products. A bronzer, a highlighter, my first eyeshadow palettes. I just want to try something, one thing, just once. In at least two colors. I’m pretty uptight, yes, but I give a wee bit of wiggle for exploring. (Based on weeks and weeks of research, and back-and-forths with myself.) (My already-disemboweled bank account emits a little tremor whenever the thought comes up.) I mean: I already have a foundation and a tinted moisturizer on rotation—why not add another one, or three? Why not get every industrial-strength concealer known to man? What is this Shu Uemura hard pencil thingamajig, and will I have to throw out my one other brow thingamajig when I get it? I’ve only had one blush until a week ago, why not get more? What are the magical properties of Guerlain ball things? What in blazes is a CC Cream? Why not have my paycheck forwarded to Beauty Bar, Rustan’s, and Watsons? Why not learn to subsist on eyeshadow fallout and book smell from hereon? Why not, Sasha, why not?

Okay. So. Right. How does one a gangly, awkward nerdface with an abiding hysterical fright of selfies end this gracefully? With a selfie, naturally. Here’s me, trying to channel my inner Not Awkward At All Lady, subsisting on two hours of sleep, an obscene amount of caffeine, and a generous helping of VSCO Moody filter. Because.

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WHEE! Thanks, Sasha! I hope y’all enjoyed that because I totally did. Again, for more of Sasha’s beauty musings, check out Go for Garbo, and for book-ish thoughts (of which she has a lot), check out Other Sashas.

For more Nosy Beauty, click here.

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