How to Look Pretty When the Entire World is Against You

This is more a blog about the horrific day I had yesterday, but I thought that maybe I could share with you guys some of the things I did to make it less awful.

Here are the main points of my morning:

• I had no power
• Could not see anything (apply makeup, do hair, etc)
• I did not have hot water, so no shower
• The bus I took to commute to my job in Boston broke down and I was late for work
• I lost a mitten

Okay, so of course I overreacted.  My boyfriend took the opportunity to smirk at me and tell me to settle down, but as you guys know, I am a sassy fashionista, so "settling down" isn't really my thing.

My boyfriend and I were staying at his parent's house (dog-sitting) when we lost power on Thursday night.  When we got up Friday, and saw that there was still no power, I demanded to drive to our apartment which is in a larger city, assuming that there would be a better chance of power.  No, there wasn't.  Apparently the entirety of New Hampshire shut down due to a crazy storm.

I had picked out my outfit the night before, thank God. So I threw that on sans shower, piled on the perfume and deodorant.  There was the tiniest bit of sunlight, so I had just enough to halfway do my hair (I put it up in a bun and slicked it back with hairspray--not ideal).  But there was no way I could apply makeup without proper lighting.

And if you know me at all, then you know that I simply cannot go in public without makeup. So I had quite the dilemma. Here's what I did:  I applied the basics while parked at the bus station facing away from the sun.  I stuck with neutral colors and very simple techniques.  Basically, I only used concealer, a tiny bit of bronze eye shadow, mascara and a swipe of blush.  It still wasn't great, but at least I could walk around in public.

When I got on the overly shaky bus, I tried to fix my look even more. Luckily I have a couple of emergency products in my purse for weird occasions like this...unfortunately, my entire bathroom does not fit in my handbag.  I went into the bus "restroom" to work my magic.  I didn't end up having any sort of hair mousse or gel for my curly hair, so I opted for some hand lotion.  It actually tamed my curls, and ended up looking pretty good.  By this point, the slicked-back portion of my hair had dried, so I combed it out with my fingers and my bangs were straight and flyaway-free. So I did a cute side ponytail and moved on to makeup.

With me, I only had dark brown eyeliner, a shimmer powder and more mascara.  I applied the eyeliner to the top lids.  I made the lines fairly thick so that I could smudge them in with the bronze shadow I had previously used.On the bottom lashline, I applied only a fine line to the outer half of the eye.

The shimmer came in handy.  It was a very light pink shade--I used it on the inner corners of my eyes and also on my cheekbones for definition. As for the mascara, I added a second coat. 

I went back to my seat on the bus looking almost like my normal fabulous self, and feeling a whole lot better.

I meant to take a picture for you ladies, but by the time I got home, I was so exhausted that I could not function.

My main advice for all of you is to keep a tiny bag of essentials with you at all times; especially products that can do more than one thing, like the shimmer I have.  Another good product to have is a pink or coral lipstick.  You can always use lipstick as a cream blush, and blush is really one of the most important makeup items to have (lipstick is too).  A small eyeliner is good to have also, and perhaps a tiny tube of concealer.  Be creative and think of new uses for small trial products that you already own.

Take it from me:  You do not want to find yourself stranded without a way to beautify yourself.  Keep an emergency kit with you at all times!