Jun 30, 2011

Yes, There is Life Without Eyeliner


As I was driving in my uber-cute Yaris today, I was thinking: Geepers, I didn't put any eyeliner on! With a gasp and a giggle, I realized I hadn't put any makeup on. Not a single dash of eyeshadow or a puff of face powder. Nothing. I shocked myself. 

I remember a day when I couldn't imagine leaving home without makeup, let alone eyeliner. Dark, black, top-and-bottom eyeliner. It's always been my signature, and despite having glasses, I never really considered that maybe people never noticed my signature eyeliner.

When I started observing Shabbos, I'll admit -- eyeliner was one of the things I couldn't give up. Despite the melacha (prohibition) of tzovaya (coloring) and possibly schita (squeezing) and memarevach (smoothing or smearing), I just couldn't walk away from it. When the conversion hit, I learned to give up face powder, blush, eyeshadow, the works. Even eyeliner went bye-bye on Shabbos.

Want the halachos of eye makeup? (For the halachos of all makeup.)
There are four areas of the eye to which women apply cosmetics to highlight and enhance the appearance of the eye: the eyebrow, eyelid, eyeline, and eyelash. Applying eye makeup in the form of cosmetic creams, regular non-Shabbos powders, cake (powder that one mixes with water), pencils, and liquid eyeliners, is strictly forbidden on Shabbos
Besides the normal conditions of Shabbos makeup, according to some opinions, eye makeup poses additional concerns regarding blending colors (tzovaya). The following are halachic guidelines when using eye makeup.
HOWEVER!
Women typically use cosmetic pencil/liquid eyeliner on these areas. As indicated previously, these may not be used on Shabbos. However, there are Shabbos makeup powdered eyeliners available that are not long-lasting and may be used according to Rav Moshe zt"l, under the conditions listed above (section IV).
Unfortunately, those powders cost a million dollars and aren't worth it. (If you're interested, check out ShainDee Cosmetics -- they have just about everything and are certified kosher l'Shabbos.) A lot of posters in The Tzniut Project mentioned getting gussied up for Shabbos, which is great on Friday night but then you have the problem of cleaning all of that makeup off before you go to sleep. Can it be done? Within the bounds of what's good and right for Shabbos? That's a question I don't have the answer to.

Thus, I've learned to live without it. And the fact that it's spread to weekdays has me, well, marveling at my own ability to embrace the way I look and love it. 

Question: What's the one thing that you've been unable to or struggled to give up on Shabbos despite the melachos? Feel free to answer anonymously, but I'm talking anything from a cigarette (quit! it's a bad habit that's going to kill you!) to your favorite lipstick to that vintage wind-up watch you love. 



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nothing consistent every shabbos, but if someone opens a window that triggers the burglar alarm, we'll turn off the alarm rather than have it blaring all shabbos. (I will answer the phone when the alarm company calls to verify if there is an emergency or not, my husband wont.)

Also, we'll drive to and FROM the hospital on shabbos if we find ourselves in a situation where one of us has to go because of an emergency.

Anonymous said...

The Curmudgeonly Israeli Giyoret says:

Eye makeup on Shabbat--Eee-yew! Some of my girls regularly spend most of Shabbat day looking like battered raccoons.

I worked in as a nurse in an Israeli hospital for years, and I find that the things I will do for pikuach nefesh on Shabbat without hesiation is a lot more liberal than most "civilians". I also define "pikuach nefesh" very liberally in case of emergencies, old people, children, and the chronically or acutely ill. I find my rabbi, who could in no way be considered liberal on most issues, backs me to the hilt, with some enthusiasm.

For anything out of the ordinary, and especially in an emergency, I do NOT use a shinui, because I have found that this can confuse procedures. IF I am required to break Shabbat in caring for someone because of pikuach nefesh, I had better take all measures to make sure I do the procedures correctly. Otherwise, where was the pikuach nefesh?

Anyway I find having to break Shabbat in these situations tremendously draining and distressing even though I've grown confident in my judgement.

{ T G L } said...

Hi Chaviva,

I'll use my cellphone on Shabbos. Not because I like it but because most Shabbatot, my husband and I are long-distance and we miss each other a lot. We miss each other even more on Shabbos! So, after many years of not-using a phone, I use a phone EXCLUSIVELY to talk to my husband (no-one els! And I don't want people to start calling me on Shabbos either ;)). So that's a compromise I've made.

A bit off-topic here, but...
Just letting you know I wrote a mini-review of a number of blogs I like on my blog and it includes yours. I hope it generates you a little more traffic and interest.
You can find the post here:
http://this-good-life.blogspot.com/2011/07/through-blogging-door.html

Bivrachah,
This Good Life

Anonymous said...

The Curmudgeonly Israeli Giyoret says:

ESPECIALLY when I have had to do nursing work on Shabbat, it drives me crazy that It's not allowed to use hand cream. All that handwashing, those antibacterial soaps and the alcohol-based hand sanitizer....AIIIIIIEEEEEE!

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