Petaluma-based beauty expert, artist and professional color stylist Jennifer Robin is one of my favorite go-to, local buddies for a regular reminder that we don't have to go completely wild with our new all-natural approach to hair and makeup during this crazy period of history we find ourselves in the midst of.
"In my former life before COVID, I began each day with a careful outfit selection and artful application of makeup," shares Jennifer. " I inserted my contact lenses, combed out my eyelash extension and smoothed any stray frizzy hairs with a heated brush."
"The next thing I knew I was looking in the mirror through my eyeglasses at my eyelash-less eyes. Gone was any need to look “presentable.” Right away I discovered that blush and lipgloss brightened my mood but that was all the makeup I needed. As the months passed I’ve never felt the desire to even out my eyebrows, smooth my skin or conceal my spots or circles."
It’s a relief, right?
"I’ve begun getting reacquainted with my unadorned face," says Jennifer.
The super-stylist claims we have a way of seeing ourselves that isn’t really looking, or looking at ourselves without really seeing. "I started with my nose," Jennifer explained. “Hello there,” I said, “You certainly are substantial.”
"I don’t have anything against my nose, but I tend to look above and below it at my eyes and smile, and delete any photo with an angle remotely unflattering. The same with all visible signs of aging, always making sure to use the enhancing “portrait” feature on my iPhone," she suggests.
As with many of us, daily walks have been Jennifer's happy time during SIP and in May she created some new lip glosses to match her bandana collection. Friends and clients were in need of some cheering up so she made some for them as well. Her Self-Care Lipgloss collection was created featuring Tender Pink, Soft Sienna, Sweet Lilac and Warm Apricot. Soft, luscious, hydrating, and easy to wear with little or no other makeup. In June she added Gentle Red lipstick and Rare Rubies lip gloss. "Wearing masks that cover our faces (and sadly our lipstick) is a necessity for the foreseeable future," says Jennifer "and I haven’t found a way to feel positive about it. Maybe you have. For now, I’m just enjoying the times when I’m home or outdoors. I wear makeup when I feel Iike it, just to enjoy the familiar pleasure, not to be “presentable.”
"There is a stirring in the beauty force as clothing stores reopen and we venture out to get our pedicures and haircuts," says Jennifer, though at the time of me posting this, those services are now on hold again.
"We’ll see what’s ahead —but I think we will all come through this with a changed perspective about our appearance and the demands it makes on our time and energy," says Jennifer.
"Beauty standards are ours to choose and redefine and that’s something to feel good about."
The post Getting To Know The Unadorned Self appeared first on Jennifer's Website & blog Growing More Beautiful
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