Earlier this month my mom (80) was admitted to the hospital for severe pneumonia. It was all-consuming for me. I was at the hospital for hours and hours a day, because you know how dicey pneumonia is for the elderly. When she eventually took a turn for the better she requested to take a shower. I helped her shower in the shower room down the hall. She requested a blow dryer and styling cream. I did her hair for her. And a week and a half in she requested I bring a little makeup for me to put on her. It felt good to care for my mom, I was happy to help her feel better after all the many years she has taken care of me, even as an adult. Finally, a little over two weeks later she was doing well enough and was released to go home.
Of course I still visited her at home but basically I was left with a lot of time on my hands that seemed empty. I could have caught up on my blogging. I could have gone to the mall to see what was new at Sephora. I could have dived head-first into my YouTube beauty videos, but instead I binge-watched episodes of Grey's Anatomy. You know, life and death. Everything else felt flat and meaningless. Maybe I should have tried to rally and apply some cheerful eyeshadow but I just didn't feel like it and I just didn't care. I figure many women in that situation would have found solace and even distraction in their passion for beauty but to me, then, it seemed supremely unimportant. In her hospital, my mom cared about her beauty routines, but I had lost my beauty-vixen mojo. Was I depressed, or had my eyes opened to what was most important in life: good health and healing? Either way, it changed my focus.
It seemed for a very long time I didn't bother with makeup etc. Then one day I cracked open a new bottle of sunscreen and it was like the first buds of Spring emerging after a dark barren winter. The La Roche-Posey Anthelios 50 Tinted Mineral Ultra Fluid Sunscreen went on like a dream and gave me creamy, smooth-looking skin, all with a high spf! I've wanted to try LRP Anthelios for ages and had finally grabbed one at Target a few months back to use when my favorite Algenist sunscreen ran out. I wanted the regular formula but I guess I accidentally grabbed the tinted version. Boy am I glad I did! It is not thick in the slightest, not like a BB cream or tinted moisturizer at all. The color seems to dissolve into the skin and yet it does something flattering to the complexion. All without coverage in the traditional sense. Most importantly of all though, is that it provides serious, mineral-based protection from the sun. Initially, the texture feels slightly oily but it absorbs well enough so that you can barely feel it on your skin at all. It is loaded with antioxidants and is safe for sensitive skin. That means no bumps or breakouts! Yay!
The second beauty product that nudged me out of my lethargy was the NARS Velvet Lip Glide. These had been all over YoutTube and beauty blogs a couple months back, but charming as they sounded I figured I had enough lip products for the time being. They just didn't jump out at me. Then I got a deluxe size sample of the Glide in my February Sephora Play! Box, but during my hibernation from beauty (and blogging) I completely forgot about it until two days ago when I spotted it and decided to try it on. Oh heaven! It felt so satiny, hydrating, and comforting. The comforting of this liquid lipstick was exactly what I needed. Velvet Glide is not a long-wearing liquid lipstick that stays on forever and drys the bejeezus out of your lips. It is more like someone melted a creamy lipstick, thinned it out with a tad bit of non-sticky gloss, then put some kind of silky moisturizer in it. The opaque formula was such a relief to my poor parched lips. The color I got in my Play! Box wasn't the most flattering shade for me so I want to go to the store and pick out a few shades that I truly love. This isn't transfer-proof, and won't last all day long, but the Velvet Glide is utterly luscious.
While these two products steered me back toward my passion for beauty, I still don't feel like my usual self. But I guess I'm just someone who would rather help my mom safely take a shower than keep abreast of the latest makeup trends. Or who doesn't blog "monthly favorites" when I don't feel up to it.
all products reviewed were either bought, researched, or sampled by me. And product pictures were stolen from the link's websites. I am not financially compensated for my reviews
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