Holy Grail Mascara

Let me preface this post by saying that I know my blog has a dual identity, but I think that's okay. I actually think it is a really good thing for homeschooling overall. I am passionate about homeschooling, but I think that it still has kind of a negative image in terms of homeschooling moms. I have to admit that I do know denim jumper wearing homeschooling moms who wear no makeup and who don't seem to care a whit about their appearance...but I would bet anything that those moms exist in the public school system, too. I just think that that stereotype still exists for homeschoolers, even though I know far more homeschooling moms who are far more stylish and fashion forward than I will ever be (because no matter where my kids ended up in school, I would still wear the uniform of jeans and some kind of shirt and Converse - it's what I've worn since high school). Thus, the fact that I gush about makeup on my homeschooling blog can only do good things for the image that non-homeschoolers have about homeschoolers (since my Pinterest pics bring non-homeschoolers to my homeschooling blog). Wanna see how many times I can use some variant of the word "homeschoolers" in this post? Yeah - me neither.

So, did I have a point? Oh yes! Mascara. I was blessed with good lashes. However, good lashes are not enough. I want GREAT lashes. Most mascaras can't deliver them. This is one of those cases where I have found a mascara that I think is worth paying for. When I can get a great price on it. I have that great price for you. Tarte's Lights, Camera, Lashes! is an amazing mascara. I look like I'm wearing false eyelashes when I wear it -- and I wear it every day. It makes me happy. It builds perfectly evenly and never gets stiff or sticky, and it washes off easily with my Cerave cleanser (great for dry skin, by the way). It retails for $19 a tube, though, and *that's* not happening.

pic from Tarte Cosmetics

Henry gave me my first two tubes for Christmas with an awesome Tarte set from QVC, and QVC has the best price I've found since. You can currently get 3 tubes for $32 plus s/h. Basically when all is said and done (tax, etc.), it ends up costing around $40. Expensive for mascara? Yes. Expensive for *this* mascara? No. If you've ever loved Lancome's mascara, you'll be saying Lancome who? after you try Tarte. I've never been a fan of the new plastic bristle drugstore trend that's happening all over the place. I'm old school. Fortunately, so is Tarte. Don't need three tubes (so, wait...not everyone likes for their eyes to enter the room before they do?) - buy with a friend. You might even thank me.

I feel compelled at this point to offer a small apology (in the classical sense - I'm not sorry for anything): it's not shallow to like makeup. It's not shallow to care about your physical appearance. For me, it's the cheapest therapy going. It's an instant lift. I remember all the way back to high school when it was everything I could do to go to bed at night knowing that I would have to get up in the morning and go back to school. So many times, the thing that got me to bed was knowing that I had a new lipstick to wear or a favorite lipstick to put on or a new eye shadow quad. It was the little things. And it just so happens that this mascara is really expensive, but makeup doesn't have to be. Wet-n-Wild has some of the best and some of the cheapest makeup around. Their eye shadow trios cost $1.99, are often on sale, and are some of the butteriest and most blendable shadows going. They also dupe many of Mac's colors, if that's your thing (which, if you're not a habitual makeup wearer, it's probably not!). It doesn't make you less authentic as a woman if you put on some lipstick. I don't do it for anyone else (well, apart from my husband - I actually do do it for him: he deserves to have a nice-looking wife. He married a hottie and two decades shouldn't completely diminish that). I do it for me because I like the way it makes me look and because I think it's fun! Well...that, and any reason to shop and collect...

So if my makeup posts annoy you, please continue to come around for my reviews and discussion of homeschool products because my shopping and collecting (ahem - hoarding) tendencies definitely extend to homeschooling, too...and, as with everything, you know I have an opinion!