I’m lucky enough that my job includes playing with makeup, testing out skin care, interviewing people with amazing style and learning new things about the beauty world every day.
Another part of my job involves food. I go to people’s homes around the region and share their favorite meal with them. We talk about it: the recipe, the ingredients, the story behind the food. Then we talk about cooking and why they love to cook. Someone’s grandmother brought them into the kitchen to help powder the cookie sheet. Another person’s mom handed down all of her recipes. A person gets really into cooking as a form of self-care because it just makes them feel better. There’s also people who hate to cook because no one ever showed them how. Or they don’t feel like they need to.
Cooking is just like beauty.
Some cook because they love it. They enjoy every aspect of process from selecting ingredients to tasting as they go to putting the finishing touches on the dish. Others loathe cooking and have a utilitarian approach to it. They boil pasta, brown meat, steam vegetables just to get by.
Some have beauty routines because they love it. They enjoy every aspect of the routine from choosing their products to soaking in how each product feels to putting the finishes touches on their look. Others loathe the process of beauty and have a utilitarian approach to it. They wash their face, brush their teeth and style their hair just to get by. There’s also people who hate the process of beauty or getting ready because no one ever showed them how. Or they don’t feel like they need to.
And the relationship we have with beauty can be similar to cooking, too. Someone sat with their grandmother at her vanity and she let them powder their face. Another person’s mom handed down all of her beauty secrets. A person can get really into beauty as a form of self-care because it just makes them feel better.
Lots of people think there are rules in cooking but there aren’t. Cooking allows people to be creative — there are no rules in the kitchen. It’s all about how you feel and what you want to do. Same with beauty. There are no hard and fast rules. Use what makes you feel good, wear what you want.
If you want to try something new, you can look online for new recipes and tips from cooks around the world. Do the same with beauty if you’re curious.
And follow a recipe the same way you’d follow a makeup tutorial or blog post: listen to it until you don’t want to anymore.
If something doesn’t work for you or your skin or you like a certain product better than what that person is using, then you use what you want. Same as following a recipe. Add in more garlic if you think that’s what it needs. Skip it if you don’t like it.
That’s the beauty of doing something creative. Whether it’s cooking a meal or doing a 12-step skin care routine, it’s all a form of taking care of ourselves in some way or another. It should always feed your soul.
Gia Mazur is an award-winning staff writer and beauty obsessive who joined The Times-Tribune’s Lifestyles department in 2015. She’s a product enthusiast who can’t live without an eyelash curler. A proud Virgo, Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in Pillow Talk is her go-to. Contact: gmazur@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9127; @gmazurTT
