My Diva Idol

Miss Piggy for M.A.C.

My idol! Who would believe that a puppet pig would be my idol? lol.

Piggy is the frickin' greatest. She is the muppet version of me. A little chubby. A bit aggressive. Says what's on her mind. Very glam and stuff. Very beautiful. Very loveable. Not the same taste in men, as I don't do green nor do I do frogs.

And now, to learn that Piggy has her own line with my fave cosmetic line - M.A.C. How can I not love this creature?

I also love this segment where she talks about being plus-sized. I love that she, being primarily geared to young girls (don't judge me), embraces who she is - a full figured female (albeit, pork). You really underestimate how these made up characters can impact young lives. I mean, I am grown and think Piggy is pretty awesome, so imagine what she does to lift the self-esteem of young girls? Piggy rocks!

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In Beauty Terms, My Best Friend is not the Diamond

They say diamonds are a girl's best friend and I love sparkly, shiny stuff, but let's be real. Can I afford diamonds? I can barely afford a pack of pork chops. There are some things I have control over at this point and some things I do not. Diamonds - no control. None. But, my best friend in daily life, without a doubt is...


These days I use Maybelline XXL Extensions Mascara. It's really good.

 ...my mascara wand. I have said it enough times - my one beauty must-have is mascara. I can go with just about anything else, but mascara is a must. And there are varying degrees of mascaraliciousness. For a quick trip to Hi-Lo, one quick coat. For a night out, primer and 2 coats.

Sexy mascara!

I typically would buy Clinique's mascara and primer but before travelling, I could not find it, so I bought this Maybelline mascara, which is also pretty good and even better, the primer and mascara were in one tube. Primer. I never knew about primer until maybe 2006, when I bought my first Clinique mascara and primer duo. Now I swear by it. Not only does it condition your lashes and prevent that crunchiness that mascara can cause on your lashes, but it also works as a great base for the application of the mascara, and lengthens the lashes as well. For someone like me, who is not blessed with full, voluminous lashes, primer is a must. Maybelline's XXL has Step 1, the primer and Step 2, the mascara in the same tube which really is convenient especially when travelling, because you know my mascara must go in the little zip-loc bag in my hand luggage.

And second behind the Marvellous Mascara? Eyeshadow. I don't wear eyeshadow every day. There are some days I go to class, sans colour, either because I am late, feeling rather blah, or just prefer a clean eye. During the day, earth tones work best and I have a mixture of Sacha, L'oreal and M.A.C.. For night though, predominantly, the mysterious tones of M.A.C.

M.A.C. - my evening shades, though I have used them for daytime as well.
It's all about the application!

It seems almost anti-climactic to end this entry with my final must-have, but I mentioned before that I do not wear lipstick, and the British weather has caused me for the first time in my life to have dry, chapped lips. So bite me if you want to make a comment about must-have #3.

Vaseline Lip Therapy - a must-have for cold weather lips

 I do wear lipgloss as I said, but mainly to go out - not to sit in a lecture hall or in the library. C'mon. I got a laugh yesterday when Unilever posted this photo...

Marmite flavoured Vaseline? Nasty.

...which clearly had to have been an April Fool's gag, cause after trying marmite last weekend, I will not understand why anyone would want THAT taste on their lips. Blech.

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In my Beauty Bag - Revlon, M.A.C and other miracles

The typical result of Saturday mornings at the nail salon

I've been wanting a manicure for a while now. I look at my nails and long for a new cute nail colour since I had to leave the majority of my stocks home. I am now bored with the 4-5 colours, I managed to pelt in the bag, which include my favourite, Supernatural by Orly.

Once upon a time, I used to wake up at 7am on a Saturday after a long, hard week at work, and jet down to the salon, before it opened, so I could be first in line. My nail technician was excellent but did not quite understand the appointment concept. Needless to say, my nails were always looking hot. Before I left home, I still got up early on Saturday mornings - even earlier - but not to shape up my nails but to shape up my ass. The gym was now the new king of the Saturday morning torture.

Touching up my Revlon Plum Seduction look in my office

My fave polishes are too expensive here - or maybe I should be accurate and say, on no salary, it's too expensive. Paying £10-15 for a nail polish, when one needs to eat is not practical. But I still go into a store and torture myself. I love OPI's virtual polish tester which allows you to see how colours would look against your skin tone. I have read that women, and these days men, with darker skin tones should wear darker colours. I tend to disagree. I love nudes, though you have to know which nudes to wear so you don't look hood-rattish. But a perfect example of a fantastic darker shade would be Revlon's Plum Seduction, which I love love love and miss miss miss. With 15 minutes before we left for the airport back in September, I was not tearing up or hugging relatives goodbye. I was on my knees, looking under the bed for my bottle of Plum Seduction. Never found it. Gutted. It costs £7.50 here. Again, the food concept supersedes that £7.50 for nail polish.

Photo: M.A.C.

My other beauty confession. I don't wear lipstick. Ever. I don't even own a lipstick. My mother had bought me a Sacha lipstick many moons ago and I used to wear it regularly but I always got bored with having to fix lipstick during the day. Now I just don't wear it. Not even to parties or formal events. Never. It may be almost scandalous as a woman and a self-proclaimed -nista to say that, but it's true. Not even M.A.C.could make me wear lipstick. I think what always stuck in my mind was getting ready for a wedding at age 11 and someone thinking it would be cute to put lipstick on an 11 yr old, but I was still a baby and my Angelina Jolie lips were not at the sexy, sensuous stage, but just a nuisance. An aunt remarked that my lips were too big for lipstick. That sealed the deal for me. I never really appreciated lipstick much after that, even with my body and age catching up with my gorgeous lips. Furthermore, I love a dramatic eye, and you cannot or should not do a dramatic eye, with dramatic lips. The eyes win.

Bare Escentuals Rose lipgloss and
Cargo's lipgloss duo - Walla Walla

But I am a slave to lip gloss. The ones I use on the regular are Bare Escentuals in Rose, and Cargo's Walla Walla duo. One of the many reasons I go to Sephora - to stock up on my lip gloss. I have found it rather challenging here though because in winter my lips, even with copious amounts of Vaseline lip balm with cocoa butter, were cracked and peeling. What a nightmare.  One thing I kick myself for not putting in my bag was my very useful and almost essential Jamieson's Vitamin E oil. On many a dry skin and lips night, this would have come in so handy. I hope I have not aged so much already from winter and from late nights and assignments that I cannot recreate youth at some point.

I had planned to go to Oxford Street today but just not in the mood. Window shopping loses its allure when in reality you really cannot hope to buy anything. The M.A.C. store is like a behemoth of envy and desire and torment. Best to stay home - be productive. It is after all why I am going through all these diva sacrifices - to get a degree, isn't it?

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Hamster Beauty

I looked on tonight as a female hamster sat in the cold, at the bus stop, putting on a full face of makeup. I am not sure what she was trying to accomplish exactly with her little makeup bag, under a streetlight. Streetlight illumination can never be flattering. I looked on as she carefully applied powder, eyeshadow, blush, mascara and a most ghastly lipstick, which to me seemed pointless cause her hair was a hot mess, not to mention the outfit. But this is just another part of London hamster life apparently. I have seen it many times on the train in the morning, but this was my first evening/bus stop hamster-makeup sighting.

I mean, everyone rushes around as though their very existence depended on it, and the sad thing is, it probably does depend on it. As I walked to my platform 2 days ago, with my cup of coffee, a male hamster rushed past me and almost knocked over my mochaccino. You better believe if he had knocked over my morning salvation, and if I had to chase after him, knock him to the ground and make him fork over my 2 quid, he was going to buy me another coffee.

But hamster beauty is something else. The only thing I have not seen is a blowdryer, but the sunken eyes come onto the train, with full resurrection kit aka the makeup bag, and they pray they get a seat and don't have to stand with some of the other unfortunate hamsters. Once seated, they apply products ranging from Boots to M.A.C to dull skin and eyes. They also stand at the platform while they wait for the train with purse draped over one arm and makeup bag at the top of said purse, and they busily apply concealer and the like before the train gets there. I refuse to do hamster beauty. Jostling onto a crowded train with a makeup bag, and then risking digging out my eye with the eyeliner or mascara wand, is not my idea of diva behaviour. Sitting on a dirty bus stop bench, most likely after touching nasty, germy seats, handlebars and railings and then using those same hands to apply stuff to my face is just nasty. Brushing wet hair so droplets of water from my shower splash on others is discourteous. My advice to the hamster women out there: Lay off the pints the night before and set the alarm to wake you up an half hour earlier in the morning. It works!

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Beauty by Trininista

Someone remarked that I looked so fresh and pretty yesterday. I put some effort into making my hair a bit neater than the day before, and did a fantastic eyeshadow job which always works to lift my mood. Yesterday I really made the effort to look as good as I did not feel. And I succeeded. I looked stellar even though I felt like crap. There are some days when you get out of bed physically but the spirit and the mojo don't quite get the idea and they stay under the covers.  It may seem like it would take some doing to get yourself from Mumra to She-Ra, but my solution, as I outlined to my colleague, is quite simple.

A good cleanser - I like L'Oreal's Go 360 Clean, because it is good for my oily skin and it also comes with the cute green scrubby which fits neatly in the bottle. Great packaging for the woman on the go.

My secret weapon - Because I have oily skin, I never leave home without my Clean and Clear oil absorbent sheets, but I have also discovered Herbalism from Lush, which after a good cleanser, really makes the skin softer and drags away any leftover oil. And you don't need to use a lot. It's an awesome product and really jumpstarts my day.

Moisturiser - I use Pond's Clarant B3 because it is again, a great matte moisturiser for oily skin and does not give that greasy look. At night though, I use a combo of Vitamin E oil and a night time moisturiser to keep the youth alive and the laugh lines at bay.

And of course...even if you're not going the full monty with the makeup (bring on the awesome shadows from MAC during the work week for me), mascara never hurt anyone. I love Clinique and Maybelline XXL Extensions for my fine lashes. A touch of lipgloss and you're ready to show the world that even in the face of questions, doubts, frustration and exhaustion, you're a star!

So what is your daily morning beauty regime?

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