Everything I learned about makeup I learned from...

Full disclosure: I used to be a cheerleader. It’s not like it’s a big secret, or even that I’m ashamed of it, but its usually not something that comes up very often (as all my friends read this they eye roll, because there may or may not have been a few times I have randomly broken out some cheer-leading moves, and full dance routines… I can’t help it, they are imbedded in my brain… it’s like a reflex). I’m sure it was probably listed on my college application as an extracurricular activity, and yes I did “letter” in cheer-leading (cause it’s a sport and all) but, again its not something that I bring up very much. I was never overly nostalgic about high school and graduating, and I was one of those teenagers that was very aware that those were not the best years of my life, and there was more to life, and so I never really dwelled.

And then I started watching Friday Night Lights… and a little nostalgia set in. One of my friends and I were talking about the show and all the characters, and I mentioned in passing “yeah I used to be a cheerleader.”  “UM WHAT? How did I not know this? You were a cheerleader?”  “maybe? Yes, ok I was” “Hello Lyla Garrity”… Not quite. I wasn’t sleeping with my paralyzed boyfriend’s best friend… But yes, I was a cheerleader… at one point I was even head cheerleader, and I did date a football player.  This is of course really saying nothing, in a school of 200 people, over half of our cheerleading squad couldn’t even cartwheel. Yes, I was one of those invertedly challenged individuals… I actually didn’t even make the cut the first time I tried out, but that had more to do with the fact that I was home-schooled, and less to do with the fact that I couldn’t cartwheel. Its one thing to have a gymnastically challenged cheerleader, but heaven forbid allowing an introverted “socially retarded” sophomore trying to pep up a crowd. Someone ended up dropping out, I got their spot, and that was the last time that anyone was every cut from the cheer-leading squad/ didn’t make the team.  That being said, cheer-leading at RLHS was nothing like anything you see in any of the various movies or tv shows. We couldn’t cartwheel, we couldn’t tumble… we could do a few stunts, even fewer jumps, and none of us were popular (ok maybe some of the other girls were… I was not).

But I can say, without a doubt that the most beneficial thing I got out of cheer-leading was a crash course in makeup. We would have to ride the bus with the team, and would arrive at away games at least 4 hours early since we only cheered for the varsity games. We would get stuck in a random classroom that served as our dressing room. There we would be, with our home-work, garment bags, blankets and pillows (for the bus ride) snacks, ribbons, and piles of makeup. We would eat French fries from the concession stands, curl each other’s hair, and huddle around tiny compact mirrors making sure our eye makeup was just so. And it was by watching the senior girls that I learned what is probably the most important makeup trick of my life: Wetting the makeup brush and using the eye-shadow as a liner. I might not have socially benefited from being in cheer-leading, and I’m sure it had nothing to do with me getting into college… but I use that makeup trick at least twice a week, and for that I will be eternally grateful to one Katie Turner.

This was long before the days that I even knew what Sephora was, or anything about angle brushes… this was also probably back when I was wearing weird frosty blue eye shadow. But aside from my flashbacks during Friday Night Lights, the fondest memories I have of cheer-leading are when I’m putting on my makeup. Even though most of the time my theory with makeup seems to be “less is more” there are certain occasions that require a little additional oomph.  I have a new co-worker, and her everyday makeup is something that would probably take me hours to achieve and, quite frankly, is only something that I would only wear when going out in Vegas. But to her credit, she can pull it off, and she does daily. So last week, as I was getting ready for a work related event, I figured I needed to up my makeup game a little bit. Out came the angle brush, a handful of glimmering eye shadows, and surprisingly enough a flair of cheerleading nostalgia.