Underground Makeup
Friday, April 25th, 2008 11:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caddymanI wish today to pay tribute to that intrepid band of women who take the opportunity to adjust or apply their makeup whilst on public transport.
The thought came to me on the way into work this morning as I observed a young woman who was probably within 18 months of her 23rd birthday (in either direction), cheerfully sitting in a crowded carriage making invisible adjustments to her make up.
So long as this was expressed by the smoothing down of eyebrows and the faint massaging of whatever she was massaging below her eyes, it was all pretty standard stuff and the only person who could see the difference was the woman herself.
Now I speak as one who is leery about drinking hot coffee on the Tube. Actually the temperature is immaterial; drinking anything that is not in a bottle with a sport cap is an event of fearsome endeavour and one to be avoided, especially if the liquid is stain-worthy. Anyone who is willing to hold little brushes to their eyes and risk an inadvertent gouge or an unintended Ziggy Stardust lightning bolt gets my admiration. Similarly the application of lipstick; given that the carriages are bouncing all over the place and the other passengers are rocking around too, it is a mystery to me how any woman can apply lipstick without ending up with a jokerish smile or grimace.
Ladies we salute you who risk life and limb in the pursuit of beauty!
But a little bit of me is waiting anxiously for the cries of woe and the gnashing of the teeth when the odds reassert themselves and the laws of relative motion are kicked into gear by the Karma Pixies. Just as long as I am not drinking coffee at the time, please.
The thought came to me on the way into work this morning as I observed a young woman who was probably within 18 months of her 23rd birthday (in either direction), cheerfully sitting in a crowded carriage making invisible adjustments to her make up.
So long as this was expressed by the smoothing down of eyebrows and the faint massaging of whatever she was massaging below her eyes, it was all pretty standard stuff and the only person who could see the difference was the woman herself.
Now I speak as one who is leery about drinking hot coffee on the Tube. Actually the temperature is immaterial; drinking anything that is not in a bottle with a sport cap is an event of fearsome endeavour and one to be avoided, especially if the liquid is stain-worthy. Anyone who is willing to hold little brushes to their eyes and risk an inadvertent gouge or an unintended Ziggy Stardust lightning bolt gets my admiration. Similarly the application of lipstick; given that the carriages are bouncing all over the place and the other passengers are rocking around too, it is a mystery to me how any woman can apply lipstick without ending up with a jokerish smile or grimace.
Ladies we salute you who risk life and limb in the pursuit of beauty!
But a little bit of me is waiting anxiously for the cries of woe and the gnashing of the teeth when the odds reassert themselves and the laws of relative motion are kicked into gear by the Karma Pixies. Just as long as I am not drinking coffee at the time, please.