Last Friday, I have taken one more step into the world that almost all women of civilized society enter when they reach a certain age of maturity.
I have bought my first set of eye shadow.
Being nineteen going onto twenty, I have thought that I needed to live up to the social expectations of women's possession of eye cosmetics, and that I should get some eye shadow, six months after I had purchased my first eyeliner, and four months after my first black mascara (because clear macara apparently doesn't count).
I entered Sephora in Briarwood mall, not knowing how I will end up when I exited the black-and-white striped entrance.
Kind of like the gold-miners digging for gold on foreign land, but that's besides the point.
I first attempted to look for a nice color by simply looking at the selection they offered. Black, brown, grey, blue, green, pink, white, gold...
But then I realized that Sephora, being a store that contains multiple cosmetic brands, just had way too many types of eyeshadow for me to look around for a limited amount of time, especially when Robert was waiting at the sofas outside, unable to relate to the realm of cosmetics.
Realizing that I was utterly lost, I sought help from one of the staff.
"Hi, I'm looking for an eye shadow..."
"Oh, what sort of eye shadow are you looking for?"
"Oh, something subtle..."
"Oh, our makeup colorist over there can help you with that. I'll go call her."
What I have learned from the experience: never try to ask for help in Briarwood Sephora unless you really, really, need help. Because it takes forever for the lady to come help you, and then they want to put slabs of makeup on you, and they go wash their hands, even though you said, no, I would prefer not to have makeup slathered upon my eyelids.
So after a long period of waiting, cut to me and the colorist lady talking.
"Is there some eye shadow with multiple colors at once?" I ask, because I'd like some variety.
"Well... oh, yes, there IS one palette that is perfect for you!" the colorist exclaims, and drags me to show me a box full of nine seemingly neutral colors.
"Our coworker at the cashier wears these every day, they're GREAT for everyday wear and creates a natural-eye look."
"I see."
The colorist then proceeds to apply some shadows on her hand to show me how they appear on skin.
"These are matte colors... and these are the more glittery ones..."
Wait, wait, those are EVERYDAY wear? That's a glob of glitter on skin!
"... as you can see, they're great for creating a natural eye look." says the colorist.
Sure, if by "natural", you mean BLING BLING EYES.
The palette did have a nice assortment of colors, but, being the scaredy-cat I am, I was effectively scared away by the glitter bomb colors of the palette. Also, I wanted to be economical and use every color that I'd be having; there was no way that at this point of my life, I'd wear that much glitter around my eyes in public.
Having had no luck with the staff, I had to resort once more to the look and choose method.
In the end, I bought a modest three-in-one eye shadow with beige, brown, and gold.
All the while, Robert was waiting patiently and painfully outside the store. Wincing, I hurriedly made my purchase and ran to my significant other.
And thus was my slightly awkward, painfully long journey of purchasing my first eye shadow. As I sat in Robert's car seat, I was tired and my brain was blank from the glitter and rainbow color of eye shadows available for the human eyelid.
"Why do women have to wear all these colors on their eyes?" I asked Robert as we drove back to the dorm.
"Well, the constructions of our society expects women to be made up like that," Robert answers in the professor-like way, as usual.
"Why aren't there social expectations for guys to wear stuff on their eyes, like a guy-shadow?" I mutter, feeling slightly annoyed to have been born as a girl, like the times we excrete blood every month, or the times I have to walk in heels.
"Well, men don't tend to wear eye makeup much, except when they're in a theatrical play..." Robert answered, being more realistic then needed when asked a question, as usual.
We then talked about theater makeup which led to other conversation topics, but that is another story.
