Letter from the Editor: January '06.(trends of makeup)

Off Base

E

verything that scares me about makeup could be summed up in one word: foundation. It is crude, heavy, artificial, and altogether unappealing. No wonder people call it base. I can still remember the way the sponge in my grandmother's compact of pancake makeup smelled, a sick musty odor with a touch of rose perfume. I loved my grandmother, and perhaps this memory should conjure up some sense of sweet nostalgia, but it doesn't. The makeup sponge was fleshy and lurid and not at all like her.

Needless to say, I never touched the stuff. Instead, I'd just pat concealer on my undereye circles and hope for the best. Whenever I had to submit my face to a professional makeup demonstration for work, I'd also plot my escape to the nearest bathroom (seventh floor of Bergdorf's, second floor of Bloomingdale's, and for desperate cases that required a private sink, the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria).

As if answering my prayers, some of the top makeup artists decided to dispense with foundation about a decade ago, declaring it fake and masklike. They replaced it with concealer, which they'd smear on the models' blemishes, scars, and freckles, ...