Inservice Day

Today is one that I have set aside for personal upkeep. Now that, ahem, I am of a certain age, I find I have to be strategic about my regimen.

I wrote already that I decided to get a series of chemical peels. I had one yesterday. So by tomorrow, I'll start looking like the insurance lizard's cousin...but it's absolutely worth it. Besides the flaking, I am very much near my goal of feeling comfortable without foundation. In fact, I had a jaw-dropping trip to the MAC store yesterday (Yes, I am a MAC addict!). After almost ten years wearing the same foundation, validated by makeup artists up and down the East Coast, I came to the shocking revelation that I am not an NW45 but a NC50. If any of you wear MAC you know that in essence my skin has shifted from Warm to Cool. I can only attribute this shift to 1) the change in climate, up North here in Virginia, I have been largely out of the sun, but 2) the peels have unclogged my pores and alleviated much of the redness and irritation associated with my acne.

The quest to embrace myself is largely a spiritual one, but I do care about how I look-hello! My complexion has been as issue since I was a teenager. Now that I am an adult, I have pursued options available to me to improve my skin. I also got braces--but that was awhile ago. So I chose to get a series of five--maybe six-- chemical peels. There are some great ones on the market suitable for dark skin like mine. I had one a few years ago that was not as gentle. But even that was not so bad as to deter from doing it again. The product I am getting now is called a Vitalize peel made by SkinMedica. It is so gentle, I don't even feel the application. The results are great. By Friday, I should be done shedding.

But the inevitable sloughing is why I plan to be in the house until tomorrow. So I am also going to get busy with a bottle of Nair for my legs, wash/set my hair, and get a spa pedicure--it's sandal time. Better not mix the Nair and the shampoo! It's all about upkeep today. It doesn't take all day for me to finish everything, but I can't exactly go to the mall with rollers.

It's fascinating to me the things I do for upkeep and enhancement. I would feel like the peels were an extravagance, but I save so much money on my hair--Thanks Sisterlocks! see I managed to squeeze it in--that I can afford to pamper my skin. MAC has become a necessity. I just hand over the money. The only other cosmetics line that is as well-pigmented is NARS. I also occasionally wear Bare Escentuals mineral makeup--but it doesn't photograph well.

My hair I do myself. But I do color at home--which I am not recommending. Also inexpensive.

I could do my own pedicure, but I love those spa chairs...sigh. I'll go and do that first.

What do you do to look and feel beautiful?