Makeup: From the Practical to the Theoretical

I was impressed by the comprehensiveness of a recent guest post on Betty Beguiles, detailing "Everything You'll Ever Need to Know About Makeup". She highlights good tips for beginners, but makeup veterans will likely pick up a few new tricks as well.

This reminded me of an article sent to me by a friend, entitled "Women, The Cosmos, and Cosmetics", in which the author shares his thoughts on makeup and more from his outsider's perspective.

We normally associate the word “cosmetic” with the superficial and the trivial, with mere appearances, but this would be to mistake the whole thing. For to understand the cosmetic, we need to look at its root word, cosmos. ... What the term meant to the Greeks was not “everything” but the harmonious composition of parts that produced a coherent and beautiful whole. ... This cosmic beauty then extends down through each microcosm, each little part of the whole which displays its own order and beauty, and then right down to the little cosmos of a woman’s face. The need a woman has to order the world through beauty begins with the need to order her face.

From this habit of ordering herself (a habit which extends to women across all times and cultures) women move out to order the family. They take what resources they have, what gifts their men bring, what talents their children display, in what circumstances they find themselves, and try to compose all of these elements into an orderly whole. The habit of making up one’s face is practice for the task of making up the world.

Some will object that cosmetics are cheating, but this is not so (except in the extreme cases of cosmetic surgery and the like), for cosmetics will not make a plain woman into a great beauty, but they will reveal and highlight the beauty that is the birthright of every woman. Others might object that this is about appearances only, but appearances are all we have in the world. The cathedral is nothing but appearances, and we may judge whether the architect has truly captured the reality of the Church; the painting of the saint is just a bit of cosmetics on canvas, and we must discern the reality it depicts in its appearance.

Read it all here.

Fellow Church Ladies

This just in from St Francis de Sales Seminary in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee:

Today, just like in Biblical times, faithful women play an important role in the vitality and future of our Catholic Church. The de Chantal Society is a newly founded group for women who are passionate about supporting the Church, raising their children and grandchildren in the faith, and supporting vocations. The group is named after St Jane Frances de Chantal, a 16th century woman who was inspired by St Francis de Sales to start the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary.

If you are local, you can check out their meeting schedule here.

St Margaret, Queen of Scots

She was also a pioneer in another sphere. Bands of women met together at her invitation to study, discuss the Scriptures, and embroider vestments and altar cloths for the churches. So we can call Margaret the inventor of the Women's Club.

[Phyllis McGinley, Saint-Watching]

A long tall cool drink of ...

Southern Girl's Frozen Fruit ring.

"And yes, I did get out my Bundt pan and make the well behaved southern girl’s ubiquitous frozen fruit ring for the Family Friendly non-sangria punch. Because I was Raised Right. And have hosted umpty thousand showers. "

Check out the beautiful picture and read Joshilyn's trials and travails of catering her own book launch with delicate, feminine food. Tres Church Lady.

A Church Lady Must-Read

If you've never read Alice von Hildbrand's book By Love Refined, you simply must. That's all there is to it. It's subtitled "Letters to a young bride," but don't let that stop you even if you can't consider yourself one of those. I first read it a couple years ago, and make it a habit to reread every six months or so. When my roommate recently asked me if I could recommend a good relationship book, I didn't hesitate to lend her my copy. A couple days later, I walked into our room to find her reading sections aloud to her boyfriend. She says it totally changed her view on their relationship, and I've found the same to be true for me and mine.

Every chapter deals with a different aspect of relationships (married, dating, friendship, just plain interpersonal), with practical and down-to-earth advice. Von Hildebrand understands the strengths and weaknesses of women, and how this affects relationships. She's a master of integrating the unique - but certainly different - gifts of men and women, and turning what could be a weakness into a strength. One passage that particularly sticks out in my mind is from the chapter involving those those four "lovely" words that we all know we shouldn't say but somehow can't help thinking: "I told you so."

Alice could have been writing to me personally when she writes,

No doubt when Michael embarks on a hopeless enterprise or is about to make a serious blunder, you must warn him. But if he ignores your warning, you have to let him make his own mistakes. Once the error has been made, your theme changes radically: it's definitely not to stress how wise you were to foresee the catastrophe. It's rather to use your gifts to lessen the consequences of the mishap and help Michael not to lose face. (He should do the same for you when you're the wrong-headed one.)....

Objectively there's very little sense in ever saying "I told you so," because by the time you say it, the culprit knows it full well himself.

(emphasis mine)

I highly encourage you to move this to the top of your reading list. Read it all at once, a chapter or two a day, or just pick out the chapters that seem applicable (you certainly don't need to read them in order). At two pages each, a chapter is the perfect length for a quick reminder when you need it.