BeChicMag.com

They say beauty is pain. But does it also have to be embarrassing?

I don’t know what I was thinking when I walked into an Aldo earlier this month and purchased a pair of black, patent leather platforms/pumps that I could hardly walk in at the store let alone on the street. After spending a hundred bucks on the shoes, I made myself wear them to my parish’s annual celebration of the Dominican patron, Our Lady of Grace a.k.a. La Virgen de Altagracia. Thirty-seconds within my first merengue with a cocky dancer, my right foot jumped out of the pumps almost making me fall and forcing our first dance to come to a full stop. “Be right back,” I told my shocked partner who had no choice but to take his phone out of his pocket and pretend to text someone as I went back to my seat.

Being an avid merengue dancer – and not the type of merengue you learn with an instructor but rather how the natives get down- before I left my apartment I knew I needed a plan B in the case my god-knows-how-high-inch heels don’t come through. I pulled out a black bag from under my seat and within seconds changed into my not-so-chic, but very comfortable flats which made my night! As for my embarrassed merenguero, surprisingly he didn’t run away and we continued where he had left off: on the dance floor.

I should’ve known these patent pumps would be trouble. After all, Aldo calls them its “Atlantic City” dress shoe. *mercedes sanchez

After plotting what I would wear to a friend’s birthday which always turns out to be a semi-college reunion, I decided it was about time I try the red lipstick craze that took over the pages of almost every beauty and fashion magazine last fall. Since I was wearing a red high-waisted, body hugging, knee-length skirt from Amercian Apparel I figured a touch of red lipstick would be all the make-up I’ll need (after my bronzer of course). Yet, I didn’t know where to start!

I consulted with Rita- a Sephora employee- and explained how I didn’t know where to start with my search for the perfect red lipstick. We tried an actual stick which didn’t quite work out for my complexion, so Rita suggested I try a lip pencil from NARS instead. And what a difference! The crayola-like tool was smooth and easy to apply. Over the “Forbidden Red” I added a touch of MAC lip gloss which made my lips pop even more in a room with over a 100 people.

Many commented on the red lips. So if you want to be noticed with good taste, I recommend going for the red hue when the trend is out which lessens the chances of running into another woman with similar lips. *mercedes sanchez

My mother discouraged applying mascara on a everyday basis. “It will make your eyelashes fall off,” she continues to say today. And after countless mornings of waking up to racoon eyes, I wondered if I was the only woman who had trouble removing the black gunk.

No cleanser wipe was strong enough to remove the mascara so I had to practice an annoying daily ritual: Grab five Q-tips, sink them into my liquid make-up remover and swab the residue away. And if you’re one of the many women who doesn’t take off her eye make-up before going to bed, you know that getting rid of eye make-up in the morning deducts five valuable minutes! After years of undergoing the same time-consuming method, I decided to abandon mascara all together and occasionally glamourize my eyes with fake and disposable eye lashes.

“Lashes are my best friend,” says celebrity make-up artist Jackie Gomez. “Adding eyelashes makes all the difference in the world; it makes the eyes bigger and brighter.” And when you want them off, you just pull them off.

Fake eye lashes range in cost and can be found in your local pharmacy or designer make-up store. “You can find a great pair of lashes that cost $2.00 or $14.00,” says Gomez. “But the glue is key! I recommend the Duo glue or any one that is water resistant in black. I love the Ardell, Elite and MAC lashes.”

I should mention that while holiday shopping I came across a powerful pack of make-up removal wipes by FACE. The soft facial cleansing cloth is saturated with FACE Fluid Makeup Remover and instantly gets rid off all make-up including mascara! *mercedes sanchez