I remember right before junior high school, my mother took me to get a makeover at Merle Norman. She told me she figured I was going to experiment with it anyway, so she at least wanted me to do it tastefully. You see, we come from a line of makeup wearing women. I’m not kidding. I remember hearing one quote as a youth, made by an old man, “Why not wear makeup? Even a fence looks better with a fresh coat of paint.” It’s so completely offensive, that I find myself laughing at loud, even now, at his warped idea of beauty.

All throughout high school, I never wore makeup. Maybe for prom, but not for school. It could have been that I was into the whole “grunge” thing, or maybe I was just rebelling over everything my family had raised me to do “properly.” I remember making some comment in high school to my mother about how women shouldn’t wear foundation because it was “false advertising.” But she corrected me and told me, “Everyone looks better with a little color.” Insert painted fence joke here.

So what happened? Why did I change perspective, and at the time in my life when I am the most busy being a parent? Simple answer really. I like it. It makes me feel pretty. I don’t buy designer clothes, (or even relatively fashionable ones for that matter,) I don’t collect shoes or purses, I get my hair done once a year, (maybe) and I never (repeat, never) get my nails done. Sometimes the only thing that reminds me I’m a woman is the bathroom mirror as I’m stepping into the shower.

But not so, with makeup. It’s the one thing I can do for myself, daily, at a fractional cost that takes five minutes and has me holding my head up high when I’m through. I hear the arguments men make, “You’re beautiful as you are…Why hide under the makeup…We like it better when you don’t wear any…” but my husband never complains. I think he knows that after a day of cleaning up toddler vomit, (it’s been a rough morning,) doing laundry, cleaning out the fridge, getting my workout in, planning dinner and cuddling my daughter back to health, a little lipstick and a swipe of the mascara wand can bring me back to adult land.

Is it insane? Absolutely! But understand where I’m coming from:

If I don’t get a shower in, because it requires unsupervised time away from the tot, I can manage to wash my face, brush my teeth, and put on something to refresh my perspective. My tot can sit on the counter, watch, and basically spend time with mom, playing with her makeup brushes. I get to feel like a woman, and she gets to play grown up…everybody wins!

I am not a girly girl, but neither is my horse riding, ranch loving, mother: who still manages to find time to slap on some purple eye shadow before hitting the dusty trails.

I wear it carefully. I’m not painting fences when I enter the bathroom. I won’t wear dark lipstick if I’m wearing eyeliner, cause that’s just overkill. But I have to have my mascara. Blush is a must too, especially since I don’t get as much sun as I used to. So all in all, my makeup routine takes me five minutes for daily wear, ten for date night.

And I love the way my husband says, “Wow!” when I wear that certain shade of red lipstick.

Seriously, it doesn’t take much.