Thanks from LRD (the not-quite-so-ungroomed)

[JaneS]

Hello all you lovely kind people.

I can't find my old thread about being ungroomed and clueless and generally in need of a MN makeover so I started this. This weekend I have:

• Bought about £150 of makeup , thus rendering the teaching job for which I'm dressing up, very financially necessary!

• Painted my nails three times (thank you, they now look quite ok, as opposed to smudgy. Special thanks to whoever told me NOT TO PAINT TO THE EDGES LIKE A FOOL, for lo, I have learned the obvious and it is now much better!

• Gone to the MAC counter and got my face done by someone who was a) not orange and b) not snide. She was very nice and I feel much more confident.

• Searched industriously for a bag and heels. No purchases yet but we'll see.

• Bought a couple of new non-slobby dresses and one of them is a size 12 (I'm not as fat as I thought!).

Thank so much everyone, I really appreciated it and will no doubt be back for more advice!

Glad you found a good makeupcounter person! :)

Yeay! And do you have the BBH? It seems to be membership card to s&b nowadays

Even I want one and I have curly hair that looks rubbish when straight. There is no good argument for me getting one. But I want one. It is pure MN madness.

Trills - today at 6.30am I ordered Moroccan Oil.

I mean honestly I have fine shortish hair but Bellavita said it would work and hey presto before first coffee of the day drunk there I was tip tapping away on lookfantastic.

6.30 AM?! On a Sunday? I have some pure Argan oil (the magic ingredient in the moroccanoil) because I'm not a fan of silicone-based hair stuff.

3 small children Trills - had been up for a while by then.

Feeling broody yet

ooh, I'm not sure I saw your thread but rofl @ you dressing up in order to teach - I used to do that.
I remember going into the graduate common room once looking v groomed and someone said 'You look nice' and I said 'Yes, I'm teaching Newnham undergraduates this afternoon' and everyone knew at once what I meant....

hope you enjoy wearing it all

at seth. It is like armour, isn't it?! And it was quite depressing finding that they're 19/20 and know how to do grown-up things with hair and makeup that I never quite mastered.

I do feel miles better now - just been out for dinner with DH and I actually felt confident that my face was made up and looked nice, as opposed to shiny/streaky/blah.

tracey - I do have the BBH (I got all keen reading that thread, hence this one!), but in all honesty I think hair is still something I need to sort out. I got married with my hair in a scruffy ponytail, so it ain't my strong point! I persevere, however.

trill - was it you who recommended MAC? The lady there was very nice, anyway.

I am now off to buy some of this Argan oil stuff, and have promised to buy DH some posh shaving kit to hide how much I'm spending on me.

Thanks all.

yeah but you can do stuff with, you know, medieval manuscripts'n'shit.

I think once you put your mind to it and think about it systematically the amazing thing is how easy the whole dressing thing is. I always thought it was some arcane art or mystery and was completely empowered in a couple of hours by reading Susannah and Trinny books which broke it down to a series of simple rules.
otherwise, with grooming, it's just a matter of putting in the hours, which you decide you either want or don't want to do.

True, true. Manuscripts and shit are my thing. Hopefully, I will make the librarian in the BL reading room think I'm grown up tomorrow (for once!).

I do love dressing nicely and it's one of the minor-but-important skills I really enjoy having. I just didn't get the grooming along the way! My mum isn't remotely into clothes and actively hates makeup, so I guess I'm coming to it all quite late.

Great fun, though.

Going to the BL rare books reading room this week - will look out for someone super-groomed!

I think you may be disappointed. Shame we can't bring in food - I could have a fruit shoot poking out of my back pocket and give you a secret MN handshake.