Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Makeup on the Metro


An excellent way to save time, or a grooming habit that is better left for home, even when that means showing up somewhere with a naked face?


I've heard of this being discussed before, but I thought I'd bring it to femonomics--along with my own personal spin.

Now, if I'm going to talk about this, I guess I'd better own up: I apply makeup on mass transit all the time. Probably more than I should, because I'm pretty much chronically running late. I can usually get on the bus or train with just enough time for me to skid to a stop at my destination with thirty seconds to spare, but that's usually about as good as it gets.
And I have a lot of skills: I can apply eyeliner on a moving bus or train with no mistakes (or at least, no mistakes the cute little smudging brush on the end of my liquid eyeliner won't fix), and I can hold one compact in my left hand and apply makeup from a second compact in my right. Occasionally, I can even use my reflection in the window for even greater ease of application. And, even more crucial, I'm great at timing it: got a quick commute? Eyeshadow, mascara, and lip gloss can all be done in less than five minutes, and if I've got longer, I add eyeliner, blush, and occasionally (on really bad days) even a concealer.

And don't think I'm the only one! I've seen plenty of other people do this (although they, perhaps, don't do it with quite the same amount of regularity though I don't know, because I rarely ride the same train or bus on a daily basis), and I've even sat next to friends on busy trains, with both of us applying a quick coat of cosmetics.

But I also know there are plenty of people who wouldn't dare do it, who might consider applying a quick coat of mascara to be analogous to clipping ones toenails (which, for the record? I would never do in public. Ewwww).

But what about you, femonomics readers? Brilliant (or at least, necessary) time-saver? A desperation tactic only to be used in the worst of times, i.e. job interview, meeting the in-laws for the first time, noticing you have a huge zit right before a blind date, etc.? Disgusting habit that no one, least of all yours truly, should engage in at all?

I have to say, I'm very interested in what the consensus is going to be. But, uhm, I don't think I'll be stopping today--I'm already ten minutes behind schedule.

1 comment:

  1. I wish I had time to do my makeup/beauty routine at home every morning for as long as I need to maintain the mystery and illusion that I just roll out of bed looking that way. But the truth of the matter is I don't. As a career driven woman with a plate of responsibilities I don't see applying my makeup on the go as a desperate tactic, I see it as an effecient one. I'm guilty of keeping an emergency stash in my purse and in my desk at the office, and even more often showing up with a naked face. The only time I have ever been bothered by another female applying her face on public transit was when she was caking it on like she was going to the circus, and that's just disgusting no matter where you apply it.

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