From a Pig's Ear to a Silk Purse?

I hate photos of myself.

I know it's wrong to not love yourself. We're supposed to love our inner beauty and accepting of all our lovely little flaws etc etc etc.  But really, I haven't seen a good photo of myself since 1987. I was snapped at a friend's engagement party when I was 21 and I had a really bad hangover but looked sultry and mysterious.

I haven't even been happy with my wedding photos, either the 1988 ones or the 2001 ones!  I had my hair and makeup done in both but neither styles were suited to me. Or maybe I'm just not bride material.

As I've gotten older, certain things have grown out of proportion too.  I've had a few gigantic, warty looking moles removed though one left me with a droopy eye.  It grew that big it pulled my right eye down so I look permanently half asleep, well that's what I see when I look at photos.

The other gift of age has been the loss of my neck.  I believe it's genetic but some people have suggested that years of drinking can also cause this - with this reasoning I can blame my mother on both counts.

If I had to pick another annoying feature which shows up in photos it would be my hair.  It doesn't really do anything, it just hangs there.  Don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased I have lots of it and it hasn't turned grey yet, but I wish I had the talent of making it do something besides just hang there, dragging my face down.  I attempt to have a bouncy fringe but after a little while it gives up and will appear greasy and limp.  In the 80's I had many many perms - my dream was to have hair like Nicole Kidman, all spirally and golden.  I soon learnt that you can't make naturally straight hair appear naturally curly.

So that's enough of me kicking myself in the ego and squeezing all my self esteem out of my soul.  I wanted to change my perception of my photo self. It's only surface stuff anyway, right?  I love the inside me and enjoy my personality.  In fact you'll find me being amused by me all the time.

So last Saturday I joined some fellow Digital Parents at a day organised by Brenda where we could get all glammed up and get a profile photo done by a real photographer, not something I took with my phone in the middle of the night.  It was not only a bit of pampering but also a chance to catch up with friends and meet some new ones too. Hi to Rachel from Kids Are Alright and Naomi from Write About Me and Eleise from Whats On In Wollongong and Melissa from The Shire Mum!  I really enjoyed talking with you all, you guys and Brenda would really be intimidating if you weren't all so damn nice. And I'll be your designated driver anytime (except for the next time when hopefully I won't be suffering from a cracking headache so much so that I can partake in the vino - thanks Omrah Wines!).

So these are what a professional makeup and hair artist and a professional photographer can do with a pig's ear (would have been a full on silk purse if I had put a bit more thought in the outfit).  And I'm not just posting these photos so you can tell me how attractive I am, no, really ... but thank you anyway!

Thank you MummyK for your patience with me!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a tea break treat here.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

OK so it was last Wednesday, but have had a big black blob in the spot where I can usually pull out some creative scribblings.  I must be getting old. Oh yeah, I just turned 46.  Bugger.

The day itself was not outstanding except for the lovely requested pressies appearing at breakfast (iPhone wallet, purple of course and box of chocs) and a pair of birdy earings delivered yesterday from my sister.  My other sister gave me my birthday present to me in January and I have been using it almost every night since, in fact I've got it in my lap right now!  Don't get excited, it's not powered by batteries, it's a laptop stable table (hang on there are batteries - for the bendy light attached!).

So all very nice practical gifts but I felt I needed to make up for not receiving my dream gift - an iPad (the universe even arranged the launch of iPad 3 on my birthday!).  So when I received an email on that day for a special birthday deal from Mirenesse, I couldn't resist.  They were offering a surprise package worth $160 for $19.95 which promised youth and beauty (well that's how I read it anyway).  Worth a shot.

It arrived tonight:

It contains Whipped Moisture Fill 3D Halo Spheres; Absolutely Radiant Tinted Moisturiser (Hydrating Firming); French Kiss Lip Cocktail (Mai Tai); 3D Forever Gloss; and Hydra Gel Eye Liner (Foxfur Brown).

At the moment they all seem a bit intimidating from someone who's daily makeup is tinted SPF moisturiser, maybe some powder on a particularly blotchy day.  So will be doing some experimenting over the next couple of weeks and may even take a photo - not keen on the close ups so may not.  Then again, if they make a significant difference to this tired old face, who knows!

What I do like about this product and the reason I put my address on their email list, was that they are free from all those nasty things like Parabens, SLS, Formaldehyde, Petroleum, Alcohol, Mercury and whole lot more that is listed PLUS they are not tested on animals.

You can find out more about it all on their website http://www.mirenesse.com/

If you've used this product, let me know what you thought and any tips as I'm pretty amateur when it comes to makeup.