How the blind put on makeup

Later this week, I’m embarking on a slew of event appearances, promotional campaigns, and film productions. (So I’m kind of apologizing here ahead of time should I miss a few weekly blog posts.) This means a lot of time before the public eye and on camera. Sometimes, if I’m filming my TV show, ”Four Senses,”, or if I’m lucky and a talk show on which I’m a guest grants me a little time in the hair and makeup chair, I don’t have to worry about my face. But most of the time, I’m responsible for grooming myself, doing my own hair and makeup, ensuring I’m presentable.Of course, I have someone else shape my eyebrows and cut my hair, but people are often surprised I style my own hair and apply my own makeup.“It’s better than what I can do myself,” many women say.I think they’re just being nice.Back when we were filming "MasterChef," we often had to do our own makeup because there were so many of us contestants and only three makeup artists on set. Monti and Felix used to watch me curl my lashes and paint on lipstick without a mirror."That's amazing," Monti would say.When I first lost my vision, powder, blush, and lipstick were fairly easy to pick back up. Mascara and eyeliner posed more of a challenge. I’ve poked myself many times in the eye with the mascara wand and flinched a lot at the lash curler. But now, even those things I’ve mastered.Eyeshadow has been my latest challenge. It’s not easy to blend the colors on my eyelids properly. Sometimes I’m told I have gray on my cheek, or that one eye is darker than the other, or that I botched my blending job and I look like I’d gotten in a bar fight.Live and learn.Here’s the latest Blind Life YouTube episode: Episode 3: How the Blind Put on Makeup. I’ve since changed up my daily makeup routine a little bit (I’ve added a few things to my repertoire—to combat aging, you know), but the essence of my routine is the same. There is a makeup artist at a local Bobbi Brown cosmetics counter in my hometown who has become my personal tutor in blind makeup application. I’ll tell her which new technique I want to conquer, and Wendy has been very good at selecting soft, more forgiving colors and showing me how to apply them for a natural look. Like my cooking, it all comes down to my sense of touch and lots of practice.Are you or do you know anyone who is vision impaired and can successfully put on makeup? Any tips? And if you’re sighted, try closing your eyes and applying some makeup. How well did you do? Welcome to Blind Life.