Confession: Why I find looking good so incredibly bad

One of my resolves for 2012 is to work towards having better skin. For appearance-lazy people like me, it’s an easier fall-back option than ‘looking more presentable’, which interestingly forms an aspect of the #1 item on The Chase List. But it’s such a chore, damn it!

For most women, the effort in looking presentable comes naturally, but I love rolling out of bed in the morning and doing the simplest of routines (wash face, brush teeth, apply SPF) and not much else. Not having a make-up routine gives me more time to sleep in, and more time to do other things (yesterday ‘other things’ involved watching highlights of Princess Mary of Denmark’s 2004 wedding on You Tube, so they’re not necessarily productive things). It also gives me more time to tidy up the kitchen of a morning, because my husband has craftily managed to avoid ever locking eyes with the checklist I hung in there after getting fed up with his man-like antics of leaving everything from DVDs to bank statements and even alan keys on the kitchen counter, and sometimes, in the fruit bowl.

Despite my substantial dose of media, magazines and pop-culture, I have always had a pretty decent level of self-esteem (not that I am going to discuss that correlation here, that’s better reserved for less frivolous thinkers like Rachel Hills and similar) and I didn’t need to look a certain way to feel better about myself. In fact, I’ve always been empowered by my attitude (or rather, lack of thereof) regarding every day make-up wear and I felt as though I belonged to some supreme feminist thought when I rebelled against looking pretty and conventional. I regularly argued that that my merit did not lay in what I looked like from the outside and I really believed that. I wanted to people to judge me for my heart, soul and mind rather than my highlighted cheekbones and well-lined eyes. And intrinsically, I knew that I had more to offer as a compassionate soul who loved to help others, as an educated mind who loved discussion and debate, and as a fun personality who would laugh with you and who you could probably have a good time with.

This attitude frequently led to screaming matches with my husband. Why can’t you love me the way that I am, I’d screech across the house. And he’d respond with: I do love you the way that you are, that’s why I married you, but you look like a hospital patient and then complain about why nobody takes you seriously. I thought he was just trying to be mean until I took it up with my friends, ones who knew me well (and thus, my afore-mentioned attitude) but who would also tell me the honest truth.

Unbeknown to them, their explanation to me was identical to that of my husband: How could someone who loves clothes and aesthetics like I do, be happy looking like they were schlepping dead weights across the desert all day? How could someone whose wardrobe (and ironically, collection of make-up) would rival that of a stylist, resemble someone more fit to be a poor boy extra in Oliver Twist? How could someone who sincerely believes that she was meant for the glamorous by-gone eras of the late twenties, forties and early fifties, look as unglamorous as I did?

On some level, I knew they were right. I didn’t exactly take pride in looking so dishevelled and plain (and I never went to parties or anything looking like that), it just didn’t come naturally to me like it did to other women. I would burn myself with the GHD, couldn’t hold the hairdryer and brush at the right angles to blow dry my hair, and would sometimes go months without noticing my eyebrows needed waxing. My friends on the other hand, would always look so immaculately coiffed, so maybe I just wasn’t cut out for it.

Being in the media (albeit, z-grade at that) made me more adamant that looking pretty was not for me. I wanted to be recognised for my hard work at my work, not at my prowess for applying false lashes and keeping them on while I work out with my personal trainer. I’m not going to lie – I had been involved in discussions with others in the media sphere about how some women seem to get their career success on a platter because they made their name as an heiress/by wooing some rich person at a party/were on a reality TV show. If and when I ever published my book, and others after it (let me just concentrate on getting to those manuscript edits that were due to my agent in August), I wanted it to be because of my talent and efforts.

I’d entered into a discussion about this once with my mentor Rachel, who pointed out something that eventually made it into one of her amazing articles and blog posts: those women might seem like they don’t do all that much, but it is pretty hard work looking the way that they do. We all know that they have the disposable incomes to pull it off better than we do, but I’ve recently realised that my attitude towards make-up is letting no one down but myself.

Suppose I meet someone at a cafe or on the bus, and I tell them I blog about chasing the beautiful life in areas such as beauty, lifestyle, home and experience. I’d wager my Chanel Bags chain-store stilettos that they’re more likely to think that I would be good at blogging about said topics and know what I am talking about if I looked the part. That is, if I had bothered to neaten my hair, conceal the scab of the pimple I picked two nights ago and bothered to add some bronzer to give my deathly pale skin tone a bit of vibrancy.

There are plenty of smart and incredible women who champion the female cause and still look beautiful. They wear their lipstick along the causes on their sleeve, and they smarten their hair just as often as they smarten their intellect. Their morning make-up routine goes alongside routines like reading up on current events on their news app, dressing their children as they dress themselves for a breakfast meeting, or highlighting their eyes with a little mascara after highlighting the clauses they don’t approve of in a legal document.

I am glad I have come to realise this, but after gathering all the ‘necessary’ products for a ‘simple, everyday’ make-up look, I’ve realised that it might be almost as hard fitting make-up application into your day as it is squeezing in book writing time. Looking good can be incredibly bad because it’s incredibly time consuming, but if it becomes habit, then it adds a little more sparkle and love to your everyday.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, a better chase starts with a better face. Hopefully I can pull it off.

On your marks, get set, chase:

Are you also after a minimalist make-up routine that would render you acceptable to wander the earth without looking like a zombie? In my quest for looking the part of an Aphrodite chaser, I pulled about 21 products from my existing make-up cabinet (all stuff I already use, just not every day). Then I put over half of it back, because I had to be realistic. So what did I narrow it down to? I chose products that were easy to use, had dual properties to minimise impact to my mornings (the tinted moisturiser for example, was base, SPF and moisturiser in one) and that would give maximum effect. Here they are:

Mornings (Clockwise):
1- Benefit Posietint: This product is so girly and easy to blend with fingers, so I won’t have to worry about tools in the morning. Plus it gives a nice, natural pink flush and can be used for lips or cheeks. WIN.
2- Face of Australia Tinted Moisturiser SPF 30+: Love the fact that this is affordable, lighter than foundation, and protects against UVA and UVB rays. The best part? The fact that it’s an SPF, moisturiser and tint means that it eliminates the need for more products which means more time for ‘other things’.
3- ASAP Daily Facial Cleanser: This cleanser has AHAs, eliminates my need for toner and targets my congested, blemish-prone skin.
4- SKII Facial Treatment Essence: Love the softening and anti-aging properties of pitera. This has made my skin feel amazing since I started using it.
5- Maybelline Baby Lips in Mango Pie: An SPF20 nude lip bar that moisturises. I never drink enough water so I need this (and the water) to ensure my lips don’t dry out as much as they’re prone to do. Plus, it smells incredible.
6- Benefit They’re Real Mascara: Really opens up my eyes every day because the wand is just as good as an eyelash curler. Will alternate with Maybelline Great Lash which I also adore, probably because it’s just that teeny bit thicker.
7- MAC Bronzing Powder in Golden: So easy to use and gives a nice, light flush. Lasts a while too.
8- Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Liner: Love that the pen is so thin it highlights my eyes in a look that’s not too dramatic, and thus perfect for day time.
9- Napoleon Perdis Set Loose Dust Duo in Brazil: A slight dust of this pewter shadow is great for day or night, and the white is good for corners of the eye for those mornings that you look like you have not slept at all.
10- L’Oreal Infallible Rouge lipstick in Charismatic Coral: My favourite lipstick of 2011. It suits the barely-there make-up look I like to go for. I bought it because Zoe Foster said soft corals are universally flattering in her book Amazing Face, and she is totally right.

Night (Clockwise):

11- Burt’s Bees Herbal Blemish Stick: A natural way to target things that shouldn’t be there while I sleep.
12- Clinique All about Eyes: To target puffy, dark circles.
13- Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant: One of the best skin care products of ALL TIME. It’s light on the skin but still rids it of dead skin and makes it feel refreshed. I am going to need it more than ever if I am going to be wearing more stuff on my face. I’ll use it before I apply my serums so that they work better.
14- Kiehl’s Overnight Biological Peel: To even out and smooth my skin while I sleep. I only plan to use this twice a week, as peels can be quite harsh.
15- Burt’s Bees Naturally Ageless Serum: Will use this or rosehip oil as a simple way to anti-age each night.
16- And once a week, a skinvitals mask to brighten, energise or cleanse, depending on what my skin needs that week.

Now tell me chasers, what do you use of a morning or night?

Are you overhauling your skin care routine in 2012?

What’s your attitude to wearing make-up every day?