Wearing khaki shorts and an adidas shirt with my superstars I decide today I needed to do this for myself. It's been months in the making and never seems like a convenient time for me to get it over with. I want to enjoy it but I fear it because of the opinions of the deliverer. Work was hard today, center-wide clean-up, I painted the hallway in my building. I broke a sweat as I scraped the floor free of paint drippings. So basically, I looked like crap. My long curly hair was thrown up in a raggedy bun and I had next to no make-up on my face.

I stopped and got my eyebrows waxed, it had been over a month. I wanted a clean pallet. With glowing pink under-eyebrows I walked swiftly through the mall. There was only one store in the enormous mall that had what I needed. I swept up to the counter, which was packed, nothing unusual as every woman wants what I was looking for. The woman who seemed to be in charge was applying some lipstick to a young girl, about 14 while her mom looked on. The very tall, very dark-haired woman had very caked on make-up. Number one rule, I remembered from the STYLE network, don't have someone who doesn't wear make-up like you would, do your make-up. So I search around for another attendant. No one. The attendant floats over to me and says she'll be about ten minutes. I assure her I am in no rush.

I stood in the corner of the eye shadow counter watching all the women peruse the goods. Some women obviously were faithful customers while others were in need, like me. I watched the attendant apply the young girl's make-up and it looked gorgeous. Would I be so fortunate?

A man in tight black pants wisped by me and shot behind the counter. Almost dancing from place to place he put away his wallet, popped a mint into his mouth, rushed to me and excitedly told me his name was Matthew and he was here to help. I was relieved, Elvira's twin was not going to do my make-up; Matthew was. He made me feel so at ease. I told him I had never used MAC eye make-up and I was ready. I also confessed that I didn't know how to apply the make-up to my eyes. As a tomboy until I was about 19 my mother wasn't living with me when I truly began to wear make-up on a daily basis.

He seemed almost pleased that he was going to be teaching today, not just selling. Matthew wanted background information; What do you do for work? What do you wear to work? What colors do you wear the most? He wanted to full effect so I painted a picture for him that he topped off with: "I know just what to do!". Brushes, tubes, containers with pop-tops, tissues, mirrors, were set out and he began his artistry.

Matthew had done this several times before. I could tell by the way he explained everything with great detail. He laughed with me as I pleaded ignorance to most things he was doing and smiled with me when I looked in the mirror to see the pleasing results.

When finished I smiled and said a heartfelt, "thank you. I'll take it all". He was more pleased with what a good job he had done and had Elvira's sister come take a look along with two attendants from the next counter. Small golf claps surrounded me. He then recapped the story of my success at work; going from teacher to manager in one year, more golf claps.

As I checked out I felt underdressed for my make-up but felt good that I had finally taken the time to enhance what beauty I have. As I left the store with my make-up and his card I felt good. I felt as though I could return at any time and he'd help me feel comfortable and beautiful again.

It's the day after and I'll hit the shower when I am finished writing. Can I replicate Matthew's artwork? Probably not. But, I'll have fun trying.

Jaime Carroll October 6, 2001

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