The Invisible Woman

It’s only a matter of time. I actually fear it.

The day that I walk into a room and no one takes notice.

I am a woman who doesn’t mind being looked at. I wear my emotions, ideals, convictions and intentions on my tattooed sleeves…and statement necklaces, ripped jeans, scarves, dangly earrings, big hats and high heeled boots.

People notice me and I like that. But maybe one day I will disappear…

It’s probably me.

It’s possible that I will tire of coming up with new and interesting ways to decorate myself. Maybe the age in my face will prevent me from wanting to draw attention to it with make-up. Perhaps my body will take such a rapid nose dive that the confident woman I am today will turn into an insecure hermit in one week’s time.

Fade /fād/ verb- the process of becoming less bright

The thought of losing color and brightness actually terrifies me. Picturing my closet full of bold colors and loud prints slowly being replaced with plain, pastel cotton knits that sag from my neck and waistband in exactly the same way they do on the plastic hangers makes me shudder.

Faded hair, faded skin, faded clothes…But why? Are we actually ashamed of what our bodies are anatomically designed to do in the second half of our lives? Is it a cultural leftover? One that  states that once a woman is past childbearing age, she should just blow away useless on a breeze? Here’s my personal favorite. We often stand in judgement of other women. Then, we are totally shocked when that same language rings in our own ears. “She’s dressing too young.” “She’s trying too hard.” “Her poor husband must be so embarrassed!”

No No No No NO!8982068ecd30085eb2667e723f1ee8e3

I will NOT quietly fade away. In FACT, THIS image is hanging beside my closet! I WILL wear animal print and chartreuse hats and leggings and ….I’ll have 107 wigs and sunglasses in odd shapes and I’ll walk around town with a whole pineapple just because. My shoes will be magnificent too. Maybe I’ll wear Chucks with an old wedding gown. I’m OLD! No one is going to say anything and even if they do, it will be something like “Wow, look at that amazing ol broad!” #oldladygoals

Black Label Sessions

We don’t have to get old to feel faded. There are lot’s of women that feel invisible for a million different reasons. Andi and I went to work to create a top-shelf session, brilliant with color designed to “reclaim, replenish and reignite…” Meet The Black Label Session.

Think about those words for a moment.

Reclaim- Has a part of you started to fade away? Your style or unique identity? We have you covered. Personal shopping with a master stylist is something we offer and Parlor chats are always on the house if talking it out with a friend is what you need.
Replenish- Are you so busy being in service to others that you continually let your own needs fall off the priority list? At Hot Tomato, self care is number one. We are a group of women that will show you how to prioritize yourself in 100 different ways!
Reignite- Passion. How much of that are you swimming in lately? Let’s get that spark glowing red again! Have you recently become inspired to political activism? Dying to finally write that novel? Ready to climb to the top of the corporate ladder? Longing for regular, red-hot romps with your lover? Let us help light your fire.

join us.

Are you ready to give yourself permission to reclaim, replenish and reignite with a Black Label Session? There are so many ways to make that happen. Please take a moment to select the session options that suit you best on this Contact Form and a crew member will be in touch right away.

Default Beauty

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Being a person of less than advanced ability with all things technology, I had owned my Samsung Galaxy S6 for 8 months when I discovered the “beauty face” setting on my phone’s camera.

Beauty Face is a sliding scale that one can use on the selfie setting.  It activates by default (#8) if you use the front-facing camera. In effect, it airbrushes your face and gives you options to make your face look slimmer and your eyes look bigger.

“Wow Samsung. When you get a brand new phone and go to take a selfie and realise that the default setting on the front camera is automatically on “Beauty level 8” which evidently means: seriously airbrushed face. This means everyone who gets a new Samsung phone and flicks the front camera on is automatically being told ‘Hi, we’re Samsung and we think you look way better when we automatically airbrush your selfies for you, x 8!!’ Thanks @samsungmobile for the vote of confidence, I think I’ll keep my freckles and imperfections since this is how I look in 3D and this is how all my friends see me in real life. I hope young girls are buying iPhones instead of Samsungs. (Wait, do iPhones do this too?) To clarify – no apps here – this is Samsung’s DEFAULT FRONT CAMERA SETTING.”  ~Mel Wells, the author of “The Goddess Revolution”

So, I tried to be mad. I am, after all an advocate for loving your body just the way it is, a fighting feminist and a mother of three teenage girls. But, I’m not angry and here’s why:

Samsung isn’t forcing us to use the tool just like your local tattoo artist isn’t forcing us into their shops to get phoenix birds on our shoulder blades. It’s just a way to alter your image if you choose to. I do this most days with makeup.

“I’m going to do my makeup real quick”

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This is make-up + Beauty Face “2”. Please note that I love both images. I enjoy how BF2 smooths my forehead scars, neck skin tags and cleavage wrinkles in photos although I’m still proud to share them with the real physical world.

I tweeze, exfoliate, moisturize, prime and conceal. This is followed by foundation, contouring, blush and highlighting with a translucent powder set.  Next, brow conditioning primer, powder brow fill followed by colored brow pomade and concealer sharpening. Next, I prime my eyelids, apply 3 shades and liquid liner. I then curl my eyelashes, glue and set false lashes and after that dries, blend my natural lashes into the false ones. Time for the last layer of overall face- another coat of concealer (under eye) and all over “warming” with a medium contour shade. Spray set. Then lip exfoliator/conditioner, lip liner, base color, blot, powder, liner, top color, blot, gloss.

If they ever sell a Beauty Face slider that transforms your actual face on the days that you chose to, I will buy it. (As long as I can still do my own brows- I really love doing that.)

Conclusion

Now, the “default” setting weirds me out a bit. Having to physically dial down the beauty setting just to look like you really look..that sends a message I think.

At Hot Tomato, you get to choose your “Default Beauty”. Did you know that? We don’t have a single box we put everyone in.  We want to photograph you. You get to tell us what kind of beauty you would like to capture. Here’s where you start- Tell Us

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. I’ll update the post with your comments.

Email them to hottomatopinupacademy@gmail.com