make-up and apologies

the other day i was riding the metro and people watching.  i had on my ipod and was seated at a strapotin (the fold-up seats in the doorway).  i woman got on and sat in the opposite corner of me.  i, of course, was doing the usual look-at-people-without-staring routine.

i noticed that her make-up job was horrnedous and i began to study it by passing over her with my eyes on a regular basis.  you see, in france, either the make-up is good, or the make-up is bad.  but there is no in-between.  i am not saying in the us there are bad make-up jobs.  oh yes.  they thrive and live.  but you do see ones that you don't notice.  there are countless women  that i know, that i would never guess wear make-up even though they wear purple eyeshadow and mascara... unnatural colors, and yet, you don't notice even though there intention is to be noticed.  (for all intensive purposes here, i am talking about make-up jobs that you can see and tell... not the "natural look" make-up job.)

so, in the vain of studying her horrible make-up job, i would glance over at her regularly.  it was all dark, and patchy, uneven and clearly the wrong color for her skin tone.  her eyes had dark black rings and there were smudges all over her face.  and each time i looked, i was fascinated by her, it struck me as just not right... how could she leave the house looking like that?  and then i noticed, and realized, and felt so bad. 

she was covering the bruises.  her entire left side was bruised.  they weren't smudges, they were bruises under her make-up.  you could see faint green peaking through here and there.  the uneveness was to layer more base on her nose, her forehead, around her eyes, her cheek.  i wanted to reach out and hold her hand and ask her what happened because she was clearly aware of it.  i noticed her demeaner afterwards.  it was the same one that people always have when they have been through a trauma and the face marks it. 

sometimes, people watching is bad for you and those you watch.