Singing in the rain

I live in the West of Scotland. There are loads of benefits including friendly people, Glasgow shopping eating and outing, house prices that negate the selling soul to the devil deal. But one of my love to hate things about living here has to be the rain.

This morning at school run time it was biblical. If frogs had started bouncing off my umbrella I wouldn't have even raised an eyebrow. But I was cheery enough. Despite the logistical issues of carrying an umbrella, holding a dogs lead attached to the pulliest most disobedient dog ever and dragging a very dozy 8 year old to school without her walking through every puddle en route.

Cheery enough to merit the catty comment of one of the other school run Mums - there is no creature more evil to her contemporaries than a yummy mummy. Her ire appeared to have been provoked by my not entering a depressive state when seeing it was raining. As I squelched up the field with the dog it got me to thinking that I like rainy days. 

Despite smudge's firm belief, I am not the Wicked Witch of the West. I won't melt on contact with water. But just incase my daughter knows something I don't I do take some precautions.

Good wellies are absolute must. Especially if you intend to take full advantage of those puddles, I know I can't resist a splash. As I have the calves of an East German shot-put champion I am a big fan of the Hunter shorts. I got mine mega cheap in TK Maxx but would happily pay full price for them. They are comfy, strong and unless you decide to wade across a stream which is deeper than it looks very watertight.

I get bored carrying umbrellas but have yet to find a properly waterproof coat that I don't detest on sight. So in order to alleviate the boredom of carrying it there has to be an added benefit to my umbrella. This morning it was bright orange to counter the grey skies. I'd really like a rainbow one but until I can grow out of leaving them on buses, trains and in cafes I'm going to stick with my free ikea one!

But THE most important thing to remember to keep happy in the rain is to leave your eyeliner flicks and mascara for a drier day. Lets face it when your umbrella blows inside out and the stupid dog is feigning deafness again do you really want to look like this?

Power Dressing

I knew today was going to be tough. I knew I was going to need to be brave and kick ass powerful in a way that most people won't ever be able to understand.

Most of all I knew that today I needed to paint on a smile and just get on with it.

I did what any self respecting child of the 80's would do and power dressed. I'm proud to say that I left the shoulder pads in the fancy dress section of my wardrobe and stuck to my sane clothes.

I dressed to hide the pain and hurt. To pretend that some of the people who I love the best aren't the same that hurt me the most. To distract from the insensitivity. It didn't work. I still hurt. I cried a bit when I got home. I knew I would.

But I did it all better in gold stilettos, with eyeliner flicks and in a GAP dress that I picked up in the sale for £25. Baby shower chic!

Defining Features

I'm not a fashionista, glamour-puss or style icon. Most days I just about manage to pull myself together and some days I even manage presentable. But if I'm making the effort to get out of my jammies I'll be putting on some form of make up.

This is partially because if I don't smudge asks questions like:-

"Mummy, you look funny. Are you poorly?"or "Why do you look so tired?" On the worst days she sticks to clear statements such as the classic "Your eyes look weird."

In her defence, she probably does have trouble recognising me without a healthy dollop of liquid eyeliner. Eyeliner flicks have been my go to look for a wee while.  Heck for longer than smudge has been alive.

My weapon of choice is the Lancome Artliner. At around £16 a pot it's not cheap but the felt applicator is a dream to use and I do find that one of these lasts way longer than my second choice.

Max Factor's colour X-pert liner is around £7 a pot and has a similar style applicator. However I do feel like I get more flicks from 1 pot of Lancome than I do from 3 pots of Max Factor so I can justify the spendy purchase.  

I need to be standing up to apply it right. I have no idea why, I do most of my make-up and hair sitting down but this makes for wonky flicks. I also pull the strangest faces when I'm applying it, much to smudge's amusement.

I use pictures to experiment with new styles as my Pinterest board will testify and always have a good gentle eye-makeup remover on stand by. I have to say that the best tip I got is that your face isn't symmetrical so don't stress if your flicks don't match perfectly. It's also worth remembering that very few people are going to be inches from your face scrutinising your application. Unless of course you associate with lots of people who have issues respecting your personal space.