The Case for Melt-proof, Un-skanky Makeup

So there I was last week, on the North Shore for the wedding reception of two friends that I love so dearly, doing the things that I usually do when I go to weddings - take photos, eat cake, drink champagne, meet new friends (and the occasional hot guy), and dance up a storm with the rest of the wedding party. For the most part I had been pretty much well-behaved throughout the night, so I thought I'd just go into the bathroom and freshen up, so to speak.

Imagine my horror, then, when I came up to the bathroom mirror and saw my reflection. Up until this point I thought I've been pretty good with the makeup - a few dabs of powder here, a swipe of lip stain there - but I had no idea that my mascara had started running and smudging to the point where I had raccoon eyes in the worst possible way. Add to that the fact that 1) my face looked pale, since I've sweated most of the powder off and 2) my lip stain was fading in a very unattractive manner, and I looked less like a civilized wedding guest but more like someone trying to get all "Punk Rawk"-ed up for a reality-show audition.. Luckily for me it was near the end of the night and I got a ride going back out to town, and anyone who saw me at the wedding would have thought that I looked OK anyway.

So what did I do wrong? I mean, I knew it was going to be humid up at the North Shore, and I had the time to touch up between the church in Mililani and the reception in Waimea. I suspected that part of the reason why I looked so pale was the harsh lighting in the ladies' bathroom, which could have also contributed to the dark circles around the eyes. That said, barring all the factors and elements present, I can name the two main culprits for my makeup meltdown:

• Foundation, or lack thereof. Even though I have what people consider to be "normal-to-dry" skin, the sweating does make my face greasy, so anything that's supposed to make me "glow" only makes me look like a Krispy Kreme donut, and anything marked "long-lasting" either makes my skin seize up and itch, or looks like it was troweled onto my face, on top of being a bother to remove. The week before, I had used my BareMinerals powder on my face for a party, and my makeup did hold throughout the night, but for some reason I didn't use that this weekend. Silly me. (Seriously, folks, this BareMinerals stuff is the bomb if you want something that can withstand hours of socializing, even in tropical weather. I recommend using this with the Face Color powder in Warmth.)
• Mascara. Yes, Maybelline Volum'Express "washable" mascara, I am glaring in your general direction. Yes, I know I'm the type of person who won't spend more than $10 for mascara (and that entry is forthcoming) but I've had so much luck with the other drugstore mascaras that I thought this one would work. Heh.

Had these two elements stayed on the top of their game, my face would not have devolved so quickly into skank territory. But as it goes, I've lived through this, I've learned my lesson, and I'm ready to move on.