Day 233: Monday's Mantra - Boring is Beautiful

Boring is Beautiful!

This is my weirdest mantra so far, but I'm warming up to it.  

Several times in the past few weeks I've felt painfully bored by my morning makeup routine.  It's been almost identical each day (except No-Makeup Mondays!!) since the project started, and I've missed the creativity involved in asking myself: is today a "dramatic eyeliner day"? Is it a "plummy lip-stain day"?  Is it a "dramatic doll-faced pink blush day"?  Instead, it's been a "lightly-applied foundation, sheer blush, neutral eyeshadow, and Maybelline Great Lash Waterproof mascara day"... for the past 233 days!  I'm starting to feel not just bored, but (gasp!) boring.  

I've been lusting over makeup and makeovers, feeling somehow less-than-glamourous without the flexibility to play around and actually see the results.  Last week I tried to quell this feeling with a box of hair-dye from Walgreens, but with only so-so results.  (FYI, from what I can see, the drabness has washed out and my hair and it's back to... well... normal. Which is, again, kind of boring!) My wedding day was an exception.  And a welcome one at that!  I admit to oggling my photos frequently these past weeks.  I've become particularly attached to the makeup-application pics. Seeing that wash of violet eyeshadow and the vibrance of a berry-stained lip... delight!  But the wedding is over and I'm back to softly (blindly!) blended sheer neutrals.  Poor me, right?

But I had to check myself.  Something about this I'm-so-boring angst feels wholly antagonistic to the intentions I've had and the lessons I've learned in the past months.

When I came up with my no-mirrors makeup routine at the start of this project, I remember feeling gloriously beautiful.  I was proud I'd learned to apply makeup without a mirror, and even more proud to have cut back on the number of products I used.  I remember thinking I was on my way to becoming one of those sexy women who have their own "look" and own it, every single day.  I'm determined to get back to that kind of thinking.

Jackie Kennedy didn't become a style icon for mixing things up all the time.  Neither did Audrey Hepburn.  (Or Katherine Hepburn for that matter!)  Even modern fashion icons, like Gwen Stefani, or Alexa Chung, seem to own a signature look.  Sure, Carrie Bradshaw had a new pair of shoes and a new crazy-cute hairstyle for every day of her (fictional) life, but who has the time - or the budget! - for that?  Besides, the constant change was her signature, no?

Anyway, what I'm getting around to is this: consistency in one's style can be just as glamorous as changing it frequently.  Maybe even more glamourous if you can cultivate that quiet confidence that (I assume) comes with knowing yourself, your features, and your style well enough to BE that person every day.  I imagine this type of woman has a closet full of "quality" instead of "quantity".  She has signature scent, a signature lipstick (or perhaps a signature smudged rocker-chic eyeliner!), and doesn't change her hair style or color every time she goes to the salon (or Walgreens!).

I know I'll never be 100% "that woman".  I find enormous pleasure in trying new things, and I'm not going to ignore that side of my personality.  For example, tonight, I decided to quell the crazies by painting my fingernails with my usual pedicure polish, and my toenails with my usual manicure polish; it was a fun (free!) change, and yet, the same. But there's an important lesson to be learned about coming back to things that work, and not getting caught up in the endless hoopla of chasing trends.  So, for this week, I'm reminding myself to attach feelings of glamour to my daily routines.  


Do you have a "signature" anything?  Do tell! :)

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