You've all heard about my adventures in shoe shopping. And yes, I'm still wearing those high heels, even in my real life--to the market, the post office, church, you name it, if there's an occasion for shoes like that, I'm wearing them. But my second obsession (okay, third, fourth, along with clothes and cooking and reading and writing...I'm so bad!), is makeup. I've passed the 4-0 mark a while ago and am now in search of the elusive products that will recapture those looks of my twenties.

A few weeks ago, my daughter and I went into Sephora. There, they have this "ten-minute" makeover thing where they'll do anything you want in ten minutes. My daughter had her eyes done (fabulous!) and I asked the makeup girl to make me look 20. ;-). She said I already looked fabulous and she wouldn't change a thing.

I basked in the compliments, then thought afterwards how idiotic she had to be. Any salesperson in her right mind would have LEAPT on the opportunity to sell me a gazillion dollars worth of concealers and creams ;-).

Then, in the week of the shoe adventures, I found myself at the Lancome counter. Let me just preface this by saying that I LOVE Lancome. And I have been a very good girl and not bought a single Lancome product in three years (saving for the house we just bought). So I stopped by, just to get foundation. I swear, that's all I wanted.

The makeup artist--Sandra--was in the middle of making over a wedding party. She'd finished the bridesmaids and was nearly done with the bride. All five of the women looked AMAZING. I was impressed. Still, I told her I was there just to get foundation. Sit, she says, and let me show you what else we have.

Again...shiny objects. Creams and potions. Magic in a jar.

I sat.

She whisked this on my face. Added that. Prepped with this, brushed on that. She left my eyes alone (said I was doing a great job with those already...at least she and the Sephora lady agreed on something) but she redid my base, blush and lipstick, and put all kinds of amazing Regenerist things underneath it all.

When she was done, even I was impressed. I didn't look 20, but I sure didn't look 40+ anymore. At least not to me. Before I knew it, I was telling her to fill the bag. The pic you're seeing there is from a couple days after the Lancome lady's magic touch. I'm not nearly as brilliant as my new best friend Sandra. And it was at RWA, which means I had oh, about four hours of sleep, LOL. But I bought a ton of Lancome. It was as bad as the shoes.

I'll have you know I did resist the concealer. Gotta give me props for that at least.

Uh...but only because she promised me the free Lancome gift was only a couple weeks away and I needed something to get that ;-).

Final results after two weeks? I have noticed a huge difference in my skin from the products I bought (which if you want to know, are the Genefique Youth Activating Concentrate and the Renergie Microlift). I already had the Regenerist moisturizer (and love it). Several people have asked me if I'm "doing something different." I still don't look 20, but hey, I'm happy with anything younger than 40+.

So tell me, have you ever been talked into a product because of its touted youthful or other properties? Did it work? And which is your favorite "indulgence" brand of makeup?

Shirley