Your face is huge!
It could just be the most rude introduction in history but I had to laugh. This was my new friend that I had chosen from many others. This was my new 12x magnification, lighted makeup mirror. The 3x mirror it was replacing clearly wasn’t doing the job any longer. Just the week before I had discovered a four-inch hair (maybe I’m exaggerating) on my neck that it failed to detect.
You see, I have a syndrome called Chronologically Related Anatomical Problems. It has an acronym. Many of my friends who are my age have this same condition. One of its symptoms is weakening of vision. The only solutions for this symptom are reading glasses, enlarged fonts and, yes, more magnification in the makeup mirror to find those stray hairs that pop up overnight in places where no hair should be on the feminine face.
I waited until it went on sale at BBB and I had a coupon. Fate, right? I brought it home, opened it with building excitement as I took off the bubble wrap and turned it over to the magnified side. There, someone had taken the time to put a post-it note on my new friend and neatly printed with a fat Sharpie marker these words: Your face is huge!
How hilarious! My first laugh was at the thought of the person who wrote the note. Was it someone at the mirror factory or another sister with CRAP who had already returned it because she needed a 16x or was some teenager roaming the store stealthily putting clever notes in various home goods? It was also funny because it was true. My face was huge as reflected by my new friend which brought the dawning realization that this new friend would also be a foe causing me to focus more time on myself trying to remove every complexion flaw,
Now I clearly understand the fusion word ‘frienemy’ that I’ve heard tossed around. My mirror does, indeed, help me find those stray eyebrows and put on my mascara and verify that I have smoothed my foundation. It also points out minuscule flaws that no one else would have noticed and can make me a little paranoid. “Why didn’t you tell me about this huge blackhead?” I questioned my husband as I pointed to my nose. He walked over and got face to face peering at the offender and said “Where?” And he already had his contacts in!
Good hygiene is important. Looking nice, I think, is also important. Being obsessed with looking nice isn’t good for you or anyone you live with. So…if you have CRAP like I do, buy that big mirror and a good pair of tweezers but set your timer for five minutes and walk away when it goes off. It’s so easy to find flaws in others and in yourself. Fix what you can then focus, with 12x intensity, on the good.
