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On Mascara and Makeovers

April 11, 2023 by Gindi 1 Comment

I turn 50 this year.

My freshman year in high school, a few years back, my mom took me to a Mary Kay consultant for a makeover and to teach me how to apply make up. She did a great job. And my make up has been nice for the ensuing decades.

I haven’t had a make up lesson since then.

I’ve changed make up products and styles and jobs, but never instructions.

So last month, I took Jentry Kelly up on an offer she made on a closed Facebook group I follow. Jentry Kelly is a make up artist and company based here in Houston. One of my best friends did her make up tutorial when she turned 50 over a year ago and raved about it. But a make up lesson? At almost 50?

YES!

If you are 35 or 45 or 55 or whatever age, and it’s been a few years since you first learned to apply make up, then I highly recommend a makeover.

It made me rethink how I apply make up. AND I was doing things WRONG! That’s right! You could be doing it wrong – and I think there’s a wrong and right after this session.

I probably wouldn’t have done the lesson if they weren’t offering the lesson for free. However, if you’re in Houston, you can sign up for a make up lesson and it’s free if you buy three products. Jentry Kelly has no idea who I am so I’m not making a dime from this should out, and is certainly not the only option for makeover lessons, but it’s an easy option for those local friends of mine. (I went to the lovely West campus and used @laurenfalls.)

They gave me that handy dandy face you see pictured above to remind me what I need to be doing along with the products (and brushes) on the back to help achieve that look.

Did I move to all Jentry Kelly products? Nope. But did I figure out some things I should be doing differently? Yep.

What were the biggest makeover lessons?

Use bronzer. The one time previously I had tried bronzer, I did not like the look on my face. It felt orange. Bronzer has made a lot of progress. And when I figured out how to apply it correctly, it gave me already high cheekbones, more definition (my face is rounder than it used to be). Bronzer isn’t just for your cheekbones – it’s for your neck as well.
Careful eye makeup application. Lesson one, no mascara or eyeliner on the bottom lids. I’d long left eyeliner off but not mascara. JK’s philosophy: No Bottom Lashes. Then one of my favorite new products is called brown lift and it’s the white cream that goes under your eyebrows. Using an eye lid base helps my eyeshadow (if I use it, you don’t need it after the eye base) stay on. Finally, run the accent shadow, if you use it, on the crease going in. It totally keeps the accent from settling into my laugh lines.
Eyeliner. It’s a whole different thing. One, maybe you don’t use. If you do use, get away from that harsh pencil that pulls at your skin.
Tinted moisturizer. Whatever base you use – whether base or moisturizer or CC cream (like me), stop at your chin. I’m sorry. I know all of you that are haunted by 80s deep base lines on your chin are screaming. But turns out, if you use the exact shade for your skin, which is a requirement, then stopping at your chin and then moving to bronzer helps your neck as you age.

Those are just a few things I learned. It was looking at my face from a fresh perspective and the products I use. My routine is longer now but the results are consistent. It doesn’t look heavy, just fresh.

Because of all this focus on new makeup routines, I asked my social media peeps what mascara to switch to. I have historically used Loreal Voluminous and recently switched to Too Faced, Better than Sex, and a Sephora brand. I liked the thickness of the Too Faced brand but it flaked on my cheeks and didn’t come off well. The Sephora brand went on a little wet so sometimes my lashes stuck together.

Overwhelmingly, women recommended Thrive. It was hands down the top vote getter. In addition, people recommended Lancome, Fantasize, Dior, Tarte, Maybelline Sky High, Blinc (a tubing mascara), Get Big, Hour Glass, Tom Ford, ILIA, Mary Kay, Ever Whiplash, Clinque, Damn Girl, Armani, CoverGirl Full Lash Bloom, Lash Girl, Honest, Bestidy, Bobbi Brown, IT Superhero, Trish McEvoy’s Lash Curling, and Buxom.

WHEW!

Also, y’all are the best!

So here are photos of the ones I tried out, in order of photo below:
Thrive, Fantasize, Dior, and Tarte (Lights Camera Lashes).

I ranked them on a scale of 1 to 5 in these categories:
*Appearance (of course – I’m looking for definition and thickness),
*Wear (this was how it stayed on and whether it flaked onto my face), and
*Removal (I use Mary Kay eye make up remover, I love this product, and if my lashes break or it won’t come off then it gets demerits b/c this product is super gentle).
These photos are unfiltered in my bathroom so no fancy technical improvements and sadly it was hard to capture the real distinctions in the lashes from photos.

The results:

Thrive – 4 on appearance, 4 on wear, 1 on removal. People say if you use water it comes right off but I did not like it. It flakes off in plasticky pieces and I worried it would damage my eyelashes. So I returned it for a refund. However, this is the overwhelming winner of the masses.
Fantasize – 4 on appearance (I actually loved the appearance but the application was a little hard – I think if I get the full size, which I will, instead of the trial size it will be easier), 5 on wear, and 5 on removal.
Dior – 5 on appearance (full disclosure, I got the pack of primer + mascara – this primer is a GAME CHANGER), 5 on wear, and 5 on removal.
Tarte – 4 on appearance, 5 on wear, 4 on removal.

So I returned Thrive and plan on making Dior my #1 choice and Fantasize my #2 choice. I bought sample sizes of all of the last three at Sephora and I plan to buy full sizes of #1 and #2 but I will say that there’s a very fine line between those and Tarte and I would also recommend it.

In order to test them fairly, I went back through the trial (sans Thrive) and used the Dior primer under each of them. I liked them each better with it. Two of my friends said this was a must do and while it felt like unnecessary work for me when I read the rec, it does make a difference. One of them recommended the Lancome primer but I’m obsessed with this Dior one so I will continue using it. It’s the brush. Crazy how it plumps and separates lashes.

I realize this is a totally fluffy and superficial post. But sometimes it’s fun to get back to our make up and fashion conversations. What is your must have make up product? Share in the comments so we can all check it out!

Day 12 – Fun

March 16, 2021 by Gindi Leave a Comment

Today was Day 12 of 23. Eleven days left. I passed the halfway mark. So we decided to go have fun.

It’s Spring Break here in Houston. As I can’t travel anywhere this week, I wanted to do a few little things with the kids to celebrate them being out of week. Their last spring break in elementary school (I’m not crying, you’re crying).

We love Top Golf. I mean we only went one time and none of us can golf to save our life, but we had a blast.

Tuesdays are half price at Top Golf so off we went this morning. I had a two hour window between work calls and trainings so we went sandwiched in a mini adventure.

Even though one of our crew was a little grumpy, his mood changed fast. We got a great bay right in the middle on the top floor even though the place was packed. If you don’t have a Top Golf in your town, the structure is basically a three floor semi-circle around all these golf targets. We love the top floor the best. Then each individual bay opens to the outside targets.

We cracked up at our terribleness. Well the baby can actually make some targets, but the rest of us were hopeless. I offered to give them a few lessons this summer just so we could make contact with the ball every time, but they said half the fun is cracking up at our awfulness! I agree.

We ordered appetizers and I let them have sodas (typically a no go). Then we came home and I let them watch Yes Day on Netflix. I told them I’m game if they want to start making their lists for our own YES DAY.

I love the premise of this movie. We moms did used to be fun.

I was a daredevil. Thrill-seeker. Laugher. Party-goer. Now I’m boring and stern and tired. Wouldn’t it be nice to show the kids I actually can still be fun? Although I’m incredibly nervous about what’s going to end up on this YES DAY list!

Anyhow, today was good. I’m still tired and I had a ton of work to do when I got home but it was worth it!

The 2021 New Year Post

January 2, 2021 by Gindi Leave a Comment

I feel like I’m supposed to write a new year post this weekend. Obligated. Hoorah 2021 is here and all that jazz.

I’ve done it before. Probably every year for the ten years I’ve been writing here.

I’ve had word of the year posts – with things that meant something at the time, like brave. I’ve written resolutions. Which I did not keep, for long (spending, decluttering, forming better habits). There were verses for the year (ironically Hebrews 11:1, which could have been this year’s).

There were honest writing years too. Years I was coming off of ER visits with littles and there wasn’t a decent photo of me from the whole season. Last year, I wrote because I felt a need but was still heartbroken after returning from my best friend’s son’s funeral. I even wrote during hard marriage seasons, which hit during the holidays when the kids were little.

With all that’s going on, and all that we have to look forward to in the year ahead, I don’t have anything to say.

I really tried to come up with a word. I almost landed on release. But then I decided there wasn’t a word that worked.

Then I thought about having a verse. More words, right? I’ve spent a fair amount of time with Hebrews 12:1 lately, but that was definitely not it. And since there have been so many different passages I’ve been sinking into, a lot of John and Psalms, I couldn’t single one out.

Resolutions? I’m not even trying. I mean Bray and I thought we’d do dry January again and then, as we sat sipping on our vodka tonic this weekend, we realized it was January and we’d already thrown a big miss (we are still doing a version of it, it’s just clearly not going to cover the whole month).

This is what I’ll do for 2021.

I’ll write about how happy I am that it’s a new year. Of course turning the calendar doesn’t change all that’s going on in our home and in the world around us but it FEELS FRESH. And just psychologically, that helps!

I got to introduce our new transition pastor to our church this morning which is another huge answer to prayer. Our church has been in between pastors and it was such an incredible honor to get to help lead the team to call this breath of fresh air for a church that means so much to me.

I’m done with genetic testing, which is a total miracle, because they didn’t think they’d be able to get me in. Then they had a cancelation because of course!!!

It’s an exciting year for my work project and it’s a year full of life milestones. Bray’s 50th, the kids entry to junior high and turning twelve, and our little marriage turning FIFTEEN!

Actually, as I am WRITING this post, a word came to me.

PROMISE.

It’s not my word of the year or anything, but it settled in my bones.

The promise of 2021. The promise of all that lies ahead. And the promise, the promises, God has given.

Because the Lord your God fights for you, just as He promised. Joshua 23:10

My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life. Psalm 119:5

I will bring health and healing to it, I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. The days are coming when I will fulfill the good promise I made. Jeremiah 33:6, 14

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

So whether you’ve got a page long of resolutions or whether, like me, you didn’t even know how to pick up the pen, hold on to the promise of 2021. Hope. Faith. Love. We all know what comes after that…

Reentry

June 16, 2020 by Gindi Leave a Comment

Depending on where you live, you may or may not be going through what we are here in Houston.

We are open for business. That means reentry for some of us, in some capacity.

This opening up has come with some scary statistics. More than just the escalating COVID-19 case numbers, the hospital beds and ICU occupancy numbers are up. Way up (as of yesterday, each day for the past week has set a new one-day high).

Because of this dichotomy, I’ve got friends in my circle who have responded in a number of ways.

FROM: Embrace the openness, do as much as they can, and don’t live in fear.

TO: Completely terrified of the dangers the virus can wreak and the escalating numbers so they are nearly agoraphobic, unable to have social interaction even with family members outside their home.

And then everything in between.

We’re in between. (And where ever you land, I feel you. This is all brutally hard to navigate.)

The kids have been fortunate since we have a family farm and ranch that they have been able to get out of the house and ride horses or work cows or bail hay in very remote locations.

But we have begun reengaging. The slow process of reentry.

A week ago, we spent the weekend with our friends at the lake. It was wonderful to visit a new area of Texas and the kids absolutely adored tubing.

We ate out at a restaurant to celebrate 4^th grade graduation.

We’re doing more with friends outdoors – swimming, backyard drinks, biking, etc.

I went to one of my dearest friend’s house in Fort Worth and hung out with her crew in the backyard for two days.

I took little bit to run a couple of errands with me this weekend, in our masks, her first outings to stores since pre-Spring Break.

I’m far more comfortable doing things outside so we maximize those activities (of course with 100% humidity and feels-like numbers topping 100, it’s getting tricky).

Next week, I go back to the office full time. A fact over which I’m really sad.

But as I’ve said previously, there’s a lot from our time in quarantine I want to keep.

We’re all reading so much (I’ll talk books and cooking tomorrow!). I can’t keep the baby and me in books (I really need to move to Kindle, because our house has stacks of them everywhere). We’re less scheduled. We have interesting conversations about topics that range from challenging to silly.

We have gotten a ton of work done on our backyard remodel. The deck and corner trees are gone, the flagstone is laid, the pergola has been ripped out, and the turtles have been relocated back to Louisiana (more on this later).

Things will not be “normal” for a very long time, I believe.

My guess is things might not even look “more normal” until next summer.

So this gives us the opportunity to rethink American life.

This gives us a chance to evaluate how we can give back more authentically and connect more meaningfully. How we can extract value from our time instead of wasting it on television or technology.

We’re still in the reentry phase. And I’m in no hurry.

I’m willing to let this move forward at a pace that both protects the most vulnerable in our community and allows our family and our church and our companies and our communities to set important guardrails. Guardrails which I hope will serve our children well. Ones to give them a pace and lifestyle that is less rushed and more meaningful.

Praying for your reentry, and for all of us, as we navigate the unknown.

Hard Conversations: Racial Injustice

June 2, 2020 by Gindi Leave a Comment

2020 has been a hard year. But this weekend hit me particularly hard.

In my house, we have been having some hard conversations. Discussing heartbreaking topics, without having any answers. I’ve been torn about writing. Wanting to share our hearts and our confusion with this community, but also struggling to know what to say.

So today, I decided to write. There are many others who will write more eloquently and with better strategies than me. Still, on balance, more voices, even halting imperfect ones, are better.

Today, I will share some of the conversations I have been having with the kids about the death of George Floyd and racial injustice in America.

While at a dear friend’s with little bit this weekend, she saw a news clip of Nashville on fire. It started our conversation about the protests and the basis for them.

First, I showed her a picture of George Floyd. Then I showed her a pictured of Mr. Floyd with a police officer’s knee on his neck and I explained what happened. Eight minutes and 46 seconds. “I can’t breathe.” Calling for his mama. Then I opened Facebook and I showed her pictures of my friends standing alongside their handsome black sons. And we talked about how scared they must be. All the time.

We talked about prejudice that people hold. Some police officers, but some not. Some just regular people, including us. How people make a decision about someone because of the way they look on the outside.

We talked about leadership and how some officials are trying to start a conversation of understanding between people in their communities, while other leaders are sowing even more division and terror. We talked about some of them by name. It was not a political conversation. It was a human conversation.

She prayed. She prayed specifically that “police officers would not think that black people are dangerous,” and she prayed for mothers who were worried and she prayed for leaders to lead better and she prayed for everyone who has suffered for years who were lamenting on the streets of our American cities.

When we returned home and the boys came back for the ranch, then we had more conversations.

This time, I sat in the boys room with all three of them.

Little bit explained what she understood and expressed her outrage. She said she wanted to be President because she wanted to say things to people who were scared and worried and she wanted African Americans to be treated better.

The boys had more questions. We talked about their black and brown friends, naming all the people we know who must be so angry and sad and scared. I asked them how could it be that the eldest could walk through our neighborhood in a black hoodie every day and never worry, but if his friend was walking in those same clothes on those same streets, then his friend might get reported to police or stopped, or worse, hurt.

They don’t move immediately to empathy like she did, they move to action. What can we DO?

If you present them with a problem, then they want an solution.

I explained we can’t change other people’s hearts but we can do some things. We can support those who seek to lead our communities who want to hold people accountable and ensure people of all colors are treated fairly. We talked about how they could be an advocate, and what that means. I read from my friend Karen’s post who reminded us, “We can’t wait for police reform entirely because that takes time… we need to be heard and seen when we see black or brown people being questioned by the police. Just stay close, your presence might make the difference.” We talked about what they could have done if they were there on that street. How do you speak out?

We talked about how we have all judged someone based on their shape or size or color or accent.

And then we prayed. Because in light of all this heaviness, what is there except to cry out to God?

We prayed for the family of George Floyd. We prayed for our friends who have been singled out and hurt or bullied or treated unfairly because of the color of their skin. We prayed for forgiveness for where we have assumed or judged or not seen others as God sees them, His unique creation. We prayed for our world and our country and our city.

We will continue to pray.

We will continue to listen.

We will speak out.

And I will run my daughter’s campaign, when she is old enough to run for office and add her clarion voice to the chorus demanding change.

I have been reading so much over the past few days, and here are a few excerpts that struck me.

This one from inCourage:

We need to feel the pain of lives lost to the inhumanity of racism. We need to feel the tension of how our privilege can distances us from wanting to feel the pain. We need to lean into the fire and know the flame with our sisters. We need to do the hard work of listening, of learning, of loving well. We are many parts of One Body, connected in and by and for Christ. Our hearts are on fire, and as on Pentecost, we need to let them burn so that we may be filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by Him to come together as many parts of one body. Romans 12:4-5: Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

This one from Esau McCaulley:

The first is to recognize that the problem is not just out there. It’s in our hearts. The problem isn’t just that there are racists in the world. The problem is that we all live in rebellion against God and his will for us. The gospel demands a decision from each of us about our own sins. If Jesus had a theme for his ministry it is repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand… We do have a message for a city and a world on fire. There is a God who loves you and died that you might know him. This love is sufficient to gather the divided peoples of the world when all the politicians and philosophers fail. There is a God of justice who sees and acts on behalf of the beleaguered peoples of the world, people like George Floyd.

From my dear friend and prayer partner and active social justice advocate:

I believe a revival and Awakening is coming, greater than ever before. Yet those have always started with laying down one’s own pride and understanding, to travail in prayer. They have begun because what is impossible for us is only possible with God. It’s going to take a level of sacrifice never before yet seen.
‘Thou Christ of burning, cleansing flame, Thy blood-bought gift today we claim, Look down and see this waiting host, We want another Pentecost, Send the Fire.’ [From hymn, Lord Send the Fire]