The middle of July and I’m just beginning to put my makeup into summer hiatus!

I’m also cleaning and tidying up because the wonderful Miss Oona will be arriving tonight for a long “Mommy and Me” weekend before she moves away from helicopter mommy to Arkansas. ( We will not visit my emotions on this subject anymore—well, until Monday when I post about our weekend!)

Sure—during the winter I use just about every product imaginable. From primer to foundation and concealer and highlighters and dark eye shadow—sometimes fake lashes. The whole shebang!

Summer is a bit different.

Always prepping with sunscreen, I leave the skin naked.

When I was a kid I hated my freckles. Now I love them because they hide the wrinkles!

Younger readers–don’t freak out. THIS is the face of a 60 year old lady who cannot afford fillers or Botox. Wrinkles, ripples and all. Well, the freckles DO hide some of the wrinkles!

I took out my big ass makeup case and started shoving more junk beauty products into it.

If you think this makeup case is full now, wait’ll you see it later. It’s like packing luggage!

Bye bye brushes I use for foundation. Rest easy in your quilted little comforter!

Enjoy your rest–you’ll be working overtime and extra hard once September rolls around!

So long foundation. See you when my face gets all pasty and disgusting.

Dream about the coverage you will give me when I take you out!

Bye-a extra eyeliners and primers.

Don’t cry little Hourglass primer. I should be crying over the amount of money I spent to have you. You will be appreciated during the cooler and cold months!

I’m going naked!

Here’s what I kept.

I really need my Well-Rested. It multitasks. I use it to cover the darkness in the corners of my eyes and it doubles as a highlighting shadow. This is Holy Grail.

My apologies for the blurry pic. Whenever I start getting low on this, it’s off to Bare Minerals for more. I LOVE this and am NEVER without it!

The Sweet Pea cream blush stays too. I love the pink tone of this—it looks bright but blends so nicely.

Stila’s “Sweet Pea” is the perfect dupe for the now discontinued  Too-Faced cream blush!

Sweet Pea looks really bright but blends in beautifully. Ugh. My hands. They are looking so “old lady” these days! Can I Botox them?

Sephora black eye shadow as brow powder and my “it” cosmetics brow brush. My sparse brows need filling in all year!

Black eye shadow works just as well as brow powder and there is no “fallout”! Lasts forever!

Tarte Cosmetics “Lights, Camera, Lashes” mascara. I’m almost at the end of one tube so the other is on backup. This mascara is so great that –OK—this is bad, but I’m “atypical”—I’ll go to sleep with this mascara on and gingerly wash my face the next day and still keep the mascara on. That’s how lasting it is. Don’t judge. We all have our dirty, filthy, nasty little habits, lol!

This is a great mascara. Really makes the lashes lush!

Liquid Eyeliner. I put my NYColor eyeliner away because in the summer I like a bit of a thicker line. I use the L’Oreal “Lineur Intense”. I have a Sephora liner on backup.

A great liner for a thicker line–and easy to give a retro look!

The Sephora back up liner!

Lip Gloss. I kept these two glosses out. One is L’Oreal (the bright pink one), which goes on transparent and the other is so worn out I don’t even know what brand it is. Point is, I threw all my other glosses and lipsticks into the big makeup case. Oh…and I have a million Chapsticks all over the house and in each purse!

Top gloss, L’Oreal’s Colour Riche. The pink is completely transparent. Bottom gloss is so worn out I cannot remember what brand it is but it gives a nice nude look.

Urban Decay’s 24/7 eye liner pencil in Perversion . This color is the blackest black! I tightline with it. It’s almost down to the nib but I love this because it stays put!

Soon it’ll be time to replace this. The UD 24/7 is a great pencil for tightlining. It stays put all day!

Guerlain’s Terra Cotta Sheer Bronzing Powder in Light. This is a new addition, but I’ll only use it when we go out to dinner or something like that. I don’t have it on today….

I’ll wear this Guerlain Bronzer when we go out to dinner on Saturday night!

Just about stuffed and ready to go into the closet for the remainder of summer hibernation!

Here’s my naked look. BTW, Adam did a great job on the blow out last week. This is my hair after a week!

Minimal makeup but maximum impact. I look human–I’m also in better lighting, had cawfee and finger-combed my hair.

Off to run errands in a casual slob look. This is what I should have worn yesterday in that horrific rain. Right?????

OOTD. White denim shorts from J. Crew Factory from last year (thank god for stretch–they still fit!). Old Navy V-neck fitted tee shirt ($4.00 steal). Some folks think we old ladies should not wear shorts. I say who cares. You don’t like it? Don’t look at me!

WAIT! Before I forget. Remember, yesterday,  how I told you I purchased Rachel Khoo’s “My Little French Kitchen”?

This little book is going to get big use!

Well, I made one of her recipes last night—actually I did the prep work. I’ll bake it tonight. It’s her “Tian Provencal”—a nice blend of fresh summer veg. Here’s a pic that I took after I prepped it!

Rachel has thyme in her ingredients. I forgot to buy it so I subbed with Herbs d’ Provence! Looks great, right??

I also took pictures of the recipe from her book to share with you. It’s really easy and I know it’ll be delicious and healthy!

 I hope Rachel doesn’t sue me for this, but it’s fun to share a great recipe! Ingredients.

Rest of the recipe. Enjoy!

XOXOXOXOXO. Enjoy the day. Speaking of “Naked”—here’s Barenaked Ladies “One Week”!