?Let us put a smile on your face,? read the logo on the beauty assistants? tunics. ?OK, then, have a go,? I thought, tired and uncomfortable after chemotherapy, and longing to take off itchy ?Ryan?, the name given to my post-chemo wig. But it soon became a struggle to stay grumpy in the face of a free cosmetic makeover for women with cancer, run by the charity Look Good? Feel Better (LGFB).
Supported by the beauty industry, their donations lurked in the chunky goodie bags which awaited us, eight victims of surgery, chemo and radiotherapy. Each contained slightly different items ? dangerous potential for brand envy as we scrutinised each other?s haul ? but all had the ingredients needed for LGFB?s 12-step make-up programme.
Before diagnosis, I had assumed my best chance of experiencing a 12-step programme lay in developing a narcotic addiction. The volunteer beauty therapists at the Maggie?s Cancer Care Centre in west London ? all smokey eyes and well-hydrated skin ? ran methodically from No 1 (cleanse and tone) to No 12 (lipstick), helping us to apply products correctly and issuing warnings not to overdo it along the way. ?Lip gloss is really for young girls,? said kindly Liz, restraining me. ?Just a dab will do.?
By the end, I had identified my personal 12 steps, badly needed to make a better job of a pasty face. These may induce yawns in cognoscenti of slap; to me, they were revelations.
1 Foundation should slightly darken the face, to blend in with the (usually darker) body.
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