Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Money Spent On Makeup

 


How much do women spend on makeup? It's a lot!

And judging from my makeup drawer, I’m no exception. I just bought a new drawer organizer and realized I have too many products for one location!

One survey done several years ago estimated the average USA woman will spend about $300,000 in her lifetime on facial stuff. This amount doesn’t include hair or nail products.

Where a lady lives makes a difference. New York, California, and New Mexico came in as the top three states where ladies spend the most amount of money. Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire were three states where women spent the least amount on faces.

This data is a surprise to me. Most of the females I see here in Texas wear makeup, but Texas wasn’t listed.

The survey doesn’t say how many years make up a lifetime, but it says $300,000 over several years? Whoa! That's a lot of money.

How many eons do we ladies buy makeup for our faces? How old were you when you started to apply the stuff?

I was about twelve when I began. I tried earlier, but my mom wouldn’t allow it.

A friend of mine recently turned 91, and she’s still applying stuff to her face and neck. She looks great! She looks twenty years younger. All those years of taking care of her skin paid off. 

The survey said we put about 16 commodities to our face each day. So, I counted mine, the ones I use morning and night and found 14. I’m missing two. My amount doesn’t include anything I reapply during the day.

As I rearranged my makeup drawer, I wondered what items I could do without.  Hmmm….? I threw away one thing. It was a lipstick and it was a duplicate.


If you could only keep two products, what would you choose? I’d choose my night cream and my eyebrow pencil.

I’ve used the Extra Emollient Night Cream from Mary Kay Cosmetics since it first came on the market. In my opinion, it’s the best and least expensive moisturizer ever created. If I fail to use it, my face feels like a dried-up prune.

The most expensive item in my daily routine is the makeup base. Maybe bases is a better word. I’ve wasted money on that stuff. Buying the wrong shade is a hazard. At this time, I’m mixing several colors.

Eyelashes are in vogue these days. You can apply them yourself, or spend a small fortune and allow it done for you. I haven’t worn those spidery things in years, but I kept a pair in my drawer…just in case.

I kept a trashcan handy so I could throw away makeup I didn’t use. That one tube of lipstick looks lonely in there.



Friday, July 14, 2023

Trusting in the Unknown

 

From a Cruise on the Columbia River


I love this picture. 

I have no idea what is beyond the sunset and watery horizon, but there's something there.  Maybe it's more beauty, or perhaps it is an ugly storm.

Perspective matters.

What I find good, another person might find bad.

Our daughter has end stages of dementia. This is bad.

We oversee her needs and guard her wellbeing. This is good.

In earlier times, she thanked us for our care. Now she doesn't respond and can't say much, but she would thank us if she could. She'd go overboard with gratitude if she knew what we were doing for her.

We are in chaos at this moment. New developments have arisen. She lives in a community, and the director tells us they will increase the monthly charge in August by 63%.  We expected 5%, that's what the contract specifies, but 63%? We can't afford that.

We are in the process of relocation.

Does she know this?

No, of course not.

Is she worried? No. She doesn't know anything about it, but way back in the day, she trusted us to provide for her.

And so we are.

We are spending hours and sleepless nights preparing this move as we work on her behalf. We love her, and she loves us.

As I thought about this situation, it dawned upon me that God does the same for us.

He labors for us because we place our confidence in Him.  At times, we see Him working, and at other instances, we merely believe He is on the job. Sight unseen. 

When our daughter could cogitate, we teased each other. I'd tell her, "I loved you first." She'd respond, "I love you the most."

We love Him because He frist loved us. And He loves us the most.

So today, the similarities dawned on me. God does for us what we do for our children.

God provides even when we don't know what lies ahead. We are always on His mind, and He is acting, sight unseen, on our behalf.

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