Did you know that during the 1400s, women would shave their foreheads, pluck their eyelashes and brows completely and whiten their faces and decolletage with ceruse—a concoction of vinegar and powdered lead?
of beauty?
That coal tar was the Elizabethan era's answer to eyeliner?
Sacre bleu, it's all true.
I swear this isn't just some exercise in grossing you out. You see, I may be "in the beauty industry," but I'm not glamorous. I'm a nerd. Facts like these—and the more seemingly useless and non sequitur, the better—are what make me tick. Assistant Editor of Beauty Launchpad may be my full-time job, but my hobby is trivia. Lots and lots of it. Pub quiz nights, cutthroat battles of Trivial Pursuit—you name it, I'm there.
hosted by everyone's favorite Canadian septuagenarian, Alex Trebek!
I tried out for the first time when I was 16—they even called me in to audition! Alas, only 15 wee nerds are chosen for the Teen Tournament. My hopes were dashed! Well, not really. I tried out for the College Championship a few years later, as a junior at the University of California-Santa Cruz (go Banana Slugs!). My odds weren't much better, however, and though I was called in for yet another audition... still, nada.
Year after year I took the online test, but it wasn't until January of 2013, when I'd been working at Launchpad for a week or so, that I received another audition invite. Bursting at the seams with newly acquired confidence and a smidge of beauty-industry knowledge, I paraded into the Culver City hotel where I was made to take a written test and perform a mock-game with some other would-be contestants. And you know what? My confidence paid off. I got the call from Sony a week later, and I nearly cried of happiness.
esent my publication and this amazing industry while on national television. And that's when the idea arced across my mental horizon: NAIL ART.
You see, I don't just work in the same office as the digit-decorating gurus of Nailpro and Nail It. I've been into nail art since I figured out that I could turn a sewing pin and a pencil into a dotting tool. I won't bore you with my creations now (perhaps some other time), but it's like, my other other nerdy passion.
So I took to Etsy, the ultimate online craft marketplace, and I found I Heart Nail Art, a custom nail art store run by the wonderfully talented Julia of Oakland, California.
e perfect set of decals, but she managed to get them done quickly and have them shipped to me ASAP, in time for my appearance!
Check out her handiwork:
>Just look at that smile.
UPDATE! And I'll give you this oh-so subtle recommendation that you watch Jeopardy on ABC on Oct. 29, 2013 at 7 p.m. P.S.T. to see MOLLY DEFEND HER CHAMPIONSHIP!
Please!
Before I forget:
p>
