Many of our readers know that I have struggled with depression in the past, and somehow this winter has been harder than most. As a Procter and Gamble mom, I am shipped products to test and try, but I always find it hard to write about just one product. Do I idolize Tide? Absolutely. Would I trust dishes to a detergent other than Dawn or Cascade? Not on your life and nothing else will ever touch my china and crystal. But I don’t like ‘salesy’ posts, or articles just for the sake of writing something. I don’t want to waste your time or irritate readers until I have something real to say.

That said, after I made my way to school drop-off this morning in the leggings I wore to bed, and actually may have worn yesterday, I gave myself gentle permission for some self care and a fix for the winter beauty rut. Following a cleansing bath with a new Gillette roller ball razor (thankfully, because my legs needed an intervention), I wrapped myself in a huge towel I purchased in Turkey and started to breathe normally again. Eyeing bubble-wrapped goodies on the counter, I decided today was the day.

The Tru Blend face primer primer made the skin feel like it was a new canvas on which to experiment – with hiding marks and things. I’ve used a few primers in the past and this was the lightest and fastest to dry. I certainly am not patient enough to wait for makeup to set – I’m lucky if I can smear on lipgloss on a busy morning.

I love nude makeup, so the Tru Naked nudes eyeshadow palette they sent was fantastic. There were 8 shades I could blend (eyes are my favourite feature to play with). The plumpify mascara scared me a bit. I’ve tried the lip plumping gloss and was nervous as the gloss always stings – but it was all about the wand. The twisted red brush is wonderful, and not too big so that you have to skip the bottom lashes.

Today I opted for the more bronze of the Tru Blend blushes, but tomorrow I’ll mix the two and shade my contours. Yes, I have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous and I think Covergirl has created a monster. The parents at school pickup will do a double take and I’ll probably have to show my driver’s licence for permission to collect my kids!