Explosions and minerals and irony

I went to work today, yesterday being a national holiday in Norway, and the day before being a sick day. So since I last walked to work, the world has exploded into green. It is amazing how green the lawns are, a sharp green, an Irish green. The trees are dabbling in various shades of delicate, still, while the bushes are mimicking the grass. The wait for green is over; the landscape is filling in with green and the branches of the trees are becoming hidden. I'm a bit sorry the wait is over. Now we enter the most beautiful time of year in Norway, and I know it will pass too quickly. Still, it's a relief to finally have temperatures that allow me to forget I've left my bedroom window open all day.

On my way home today, the theme was not green, but skin color. Last summer on the cruise ship, I was introduced to mineral powder foundation/bronzer for the first time and it was wonderful! I keep getting compliments for my skin whenever I use that stuff. But it's one of those luxury items you find only in luxury situations, like cruise ships or up-scale salons. Until now. Several mainstream make-up companies are now offering mineral make-up at affordable prices in regular stores, and one of the better ones is a available at a local department store. So I bought IsaDora's foundation mineral powder and rouge mineral powder and the accompanying brushes and a lipstick (can't-be-bothered-to-dig-up-name) for the heck of it because I saw my favorite color.

And tried it all out the minute I got home. Naturally.

The mineral stuff is great! Far, far better than liquid foundation or regular powder. I may have missed a tad on the shade for my face (maybe I really am a Medium Beige and not a Light Rose), but it works well enough with my still winter-pale skin. The rouge, Summer Berries, is a perfect shade for me. The lipstick was the exact same shade as all my other favorites, which should be good news, but my lips are shrinking (stoopid aging). And darkish rose lipstick on shrinking lips just doesn't bring the lips out. It instead points out that my mouth is too small for my (still) large eyes. So, I'm going back to the store and this time I'll get a light pink lipstick. That'll be a change!

And finally - because it's too good not to share - this wonderful definition of irony, courtesy today's news: Norway, which is an oil producing and exporting nation and always earns money hand over fist when the price of a barrel goes up, cannot afford to repave almost 3000 km of roads because asphalt is a petroleum product, which, because of the current high price of oil, is too expensive for those in charge of road maintenance to buy.

Told you it was a good one.