Before and After

Sometimes inspiration can strike in the strangest places. For instance, this morning, I suddenly decided to do a little photo essay of my morning makeup routine. Uncharacteristic subject matter for me, probably prompted in large part by these two posts on A Beautiful Mess that I've enjoyed lately--except this one will have poorer lighting, worse photography, and involved shooting into a spotty antique mirror. Let the fun and vanity-deflation begin!

The top photo, of course, is the proverbial "before" shot. From that point, the first thing I do is use three Bare Minerals products.

The first one of which, Original SPF 15 Foundation, leaves me looking a little something like this.

Next comes something called Well-Rested for putting under the eyeballs.

It looks like this.

Third comes the SPF 25 Mineral Veil.

Which gets us to here.

Next up come three Benefit products. First the universally beloved Dandelion blush.

Which looks like this.

 Followed by Creaseless Cream Shadow in a color called Birthday Suit.

Thus.

 And finally Bad Gal Lash mascarra.

Which leaves us with a nearly-there-"after" look that looks like this. But here's the thing. When I'm at home, as I am at this point, what with the baby and all I need to be able to do a lot of kissing, so I don't want to put on lipstick. 

That happens when I get to work: MAC Russian Red, to be precise. 

And so the really final end result looks like this.