Makeup

Her eyelashes were gummed together in twos and threes by mascara. Thick black eyeliner traced very closely the curve of her eyelids, running through the roots of her lashes, just outside the pink mucous membrane. On the lower lid, the black powder had been smudged with a finger to blend into the beige-pink powder of foundation beneath — every grain of which seemed to stand out on her skin in the clear light. On her upper lids eyeshadow blended from blue to turquoise to green, with great green wings flaring out from the corners of her eyes. Her eyebrows had been plucked \ cancer \ almost bare skin then recreated with dark brown eyebrow pencil; the two arches were so slender they resembled parentheses printed sideways on her brow. It was on her neck, hidden by the shadow of her chin — at least in the light she used to apply her makeup — that the thick layer of foundation gave way to the natural tone of her skin.