I see your confused faces...'but what kind of a makeup artist doesn't wear makeup?' . You'd be surprised. Most people expect us to show up at shoots with 5kgs of makeup on our faces, multi-coloured hair, leather pants/leopard print and a lot of facial piercings. Oh the so-called glamorous life. When we do arrive looking very normal and with minimal (if any) makeup on, we get a panicked 'are you the model??' No, calm down. Yes initially it's a bit offensive that they reel in horror at the thought of you being the model, what do you mean I don't look like a model?!?! But after a while you realise that the picture in people's minds of makeup artists is insanely far from the truth. Most makeup artists don't wear a lot of makeup. Maybe it's because we spend so much time making other people pretty that we can't be arsed to do it ourselves or maybe it's just because most makeup artists are natural beauties and don't need makeup (told you we could be models!!!) I guess the saying holds true, the mechanic's car is always broken! Oh, and the leopard print obsession is definitely a makeup artist thing.
Back to me. I never thought I had a fascination with makeup until I stumbled across this old photo the other day...
YIAYIA SOPHIA!!!! A lovely old Greek lady that we were family friends with.
As soon as I saw this picture a flood of memories came back to me, and along with those memories I could actually smell her. What did Yiayia Sophia smell like? Makeup, powder and cigarette smoke. Then it hit me *LIGHTBULB MOMENT* this old lady is the cause of my three weird obsessions!!
1. Smelling makeup: I always smell makeup. It is virtually impossible for me to open a tube of mascara or a lipgloss and not smell it. The same ones. Every time. Yiayia Sophia's daughter was working for some or other cosmetic counter and my sisters and I would regularly receive tons of makeup liberated from said counter. The one time we actually received a part of the counter, a whole section of a plastic display shelf complete with embedded testers, only an old Greek lady could manage that!! I must have been about 6 at the time. Every time she would come for a visit she would bring makeup. I remember one elaborate visit that included a real olden day suitcase full of makeup and polystyrene heads (for applying makeup on),hats,scarves and other unwanted items that us three little girls thought were the most precious and valuable things we had ever owned. Yiayia Sophia always wore makeup,she's the only person I remember from my childhood that did. My memory of first smelling makeup is definitely a Yiayia Sophia memory. A lady who always wore makeup and always brought us makeup. That old lady was makeup personified for us.
2. Old people skin: I have confessed to loving old people skin before.
When I saw the photo of her I immediately remembered Yiayia Sophia's soft wrinkly skin. It felt like powder, it smelt like powder. Her skin was so old, so soft. I remember her big arms hugging me and loving the feeling of being wrapped up in all that old squishiness. Wipe that disgusted look off your face and stop judging me!3. Cigarette smoke: I have never been a smoker. But I love the smell of smoke. I love the smell when someone first lights a cigarette, it smells like burning candy floss, in a good way. I love the smell (and taste, but I most certainly can't attribute that to the granny!) of cigarettes on a man's breath. Yiayia Sophia was also the first person from my childhood that I associated with smoking.
Makeup, old people skin, and cigarette smoke. Told you they were weird obsessions!
I never realised how much of an effect Yiayia Sophia had in my life *nostalgic moment*. And in a bizarre twist many years later, my goddaughter's name is Sophia! Sophia is now 6 years old, and her mother wears minimal (if any) makeup. Coincidence? Maybe I need to be her makeup role model!! Yes! It all makes sense now! I hereby pledge to be Sophia's Yiayia Sophia. Fear not though, I am not about to start smoking or give up Botox!
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