Photo courtesy of Gaetano Cessati of Unsplash
Not long ago a magazine solicited its readers for their best single piece of beauty advice. There were the usual responses of never sleep in your make-up and always wear sunscreen, mixed in with suggestions for a specific night cream or moisturizer. My favorite among the submissions made me laugh out loud: Avoid magnification mirrors.
One of my Christmas gifts this year was a hang-on-the-wall, swivel arm, natural daylight lighted make-up mirror. I love it. Thank you, husband and Amazon Prime. I no longer have to guess if my make-up is evenly applied. And the natural daylight surround is so, well, natural.
And yes, the mirror does flip over to become a magnification mirror. As in 10X magnification. Holy Mother of Kim Kardashian, I can see every flaw, blemish, age spot, and pore on my face. NOW I understand why that piece of beauty advice to avoid these things was truly no joke.
There is actually a warning sticker attached to the “bad” side: Warning: Danger of fire if placed in direct sunlight. I am not making this up. It’s reminiscent of when the hoodlums from elementary school would burn ants on the sidewalk using the sun’s rays with a hand-held magnifying glass.
I know some people made New Year resolutions to limit time on Facebook or their smart phones. I had to set a similar limit for Norma 10X. It’s not that I was doing a “Who’s the fairest of them all?” routine; I was simply horribly fascinated by the up-close-and-personal detail I could see. It wasn’t pretty. Trust me; even Jennifer Aniston’s 10X reflection would not be something she would post on Instagram.
As I flipped my mirror back to its Glinda-the-Good-Witch side, I thought about how often we carelessly do a 10X view of other’s faults and annoyances. We let pettiness creep in and what really is a minor flaw suddenly looms large as a VERY BIG DEAL.
And it’s not just with other people; we flagellate ourselves over a minor mistake, fixated at the hideous creature we have turned into for having goofed up.
Let’s agree to flip our brain and heart mirrors back to 1X. Let us be kind and forgiving to others while we share a little of those same niceties with ourselves.
And oh yes, DO stay away from magnification mirrors.
To my readers: What one character flaw will you forgive yourself for today?
