Calling All Makeup Geeks

      While Wear Your Invisible Crown may be an online Mecca for modest fashion posts—or so we humbly hope—it has not dipped its toes in the pool of skincare and makeup. This is quite ironic, as I used to be a makeup hoarder. If a community like M.A.A (Makeup Addicts Anonymous) existed, then I would've be a supporting member. I would have proudly burst into M.A.As with my M.A.Cs.  Yet, after a couple of years, this fixation with eyeliners, lipsticks, and powders dissipated and paved the way for an interest in sartorial style.

      As the editor of this blog, however, I still wanted to have makeup articles for all XX chromosome readers (or XY chromosome readers who find the female universe—brimming with frills, lace, and nail polish—laughably ridiculous and bewildering).

      This explains why when I met Talia Silver, from Silver Linings Makeup Artistry, I grew excited. Talia is a talented makeup artist whose work on clients appears to be both natural and luscious. Neither over-the-top nor too minimal, Talia’s artistry strikes the proverbial “just right” balance. (Check out photos of her work on her Facebook page!)

Talia Silver applying makeup on a client

      We are delighted to have Talia Silver on board as the official Skincare and Makeup contributor. Take a look at her first post below offering excellent advice on "How to Protect and Nourish your Skin; Part 1."

A Cure for the

“FeelingUgly-itis"

 Vogue China

 There isn’t another proverbial stone left to be uncovered when it comes to the subject of “Females and the Relationship with their Appearance.” Scores of articles, books, and films have portrayed women and their inner battles with self-esteem and perceived beauty.  

As I’ve mentioned in October’s Book Review (“Beauty Pageants” by Libba Bray—please click on the “BEAUTY” label below to view it), “it’s obvious that I am neither the first nor the last to blather about this subject. In fact, as many of you know, this particular feminine issue has been to driven to the ground, beaten to the pulp, and then boomeranged itself back to earth.”

         Yet, I still choose to mention this, because a month ago, I fell prey to this very bait: that antagonizing voice that persisted I was “unattractive.” That voice…that accursed voice…it trickled through the hills and valleys of my brain and echoed with every quiver of my insecure heart.

 

PAUL STAHR (American, 1883-1953). Girl in Red Beret Looking into Compact Mirror, Saturday Evening Post cover

 

        It began with a couple of innocent photo shots of me. A relative of mine stood there poised and proud with her new Cannon. She excitedly snapped pictures of me flipping my hair a la Pantene commercial, taking a sip of tea, twirling my flared skirt and then losing my balance, blinking at her uncertainly.

 

        It was a hodgepodge of both purposeful and candid photos.

  Book Review  

Welcome to "Wear Your Invisible Crown"'s BOOK REVIEW Column. We will periodically feature a book or novel and will include our personal reflections based upon our reading. We will include books from various genres (spanning the range of fiction, memoirs, Jewish-themed books, psychology, dating, and classics). Read on for this month's BOOK REVIEW. We hope it's up your alley.

Pause for a moment and envision the following: You are a competing in a National Beauty Pageant and you (along with the other Beauty Pageant contestants) are flying to a tropical destination where the Pageant will be staged and filmed. Yet, there is one itsy-bitsy glitch in this glamorous agenda: The plane you are flying on crashes and you and the other survivors are pitifully abandoned on a cobra-infested, volcano-exploding jungle. You and your fellow surviving Beauty Queens have little to subsist on—unless you can count “four hot roller sets, straightening irons, three waterlogged beauty magazines, and laxatives” as survival provisions. You and the other young women have it far worse than the contenders on Survivor, because in addition to your minor “do or die” predicament, you must also continue to rigorously train for the Beauty Pageant, because when rescue does arrive you cannot afford to be mortified in front of the national television screen with smudged eyeliner and a sloppy runway walk.