Mom's Makeup Case: A Special Memory and a Giveaway

This is my Mom and me was taken four years before she passed from this life in August 1997: floor seats at the Garth Brooks concert in Tulsa, right before I started grad school at NSU. This picture perfectly represents the love we had for one another. Incredibly blessed by God with the mother He gave me for 26 years in this life and forever in Eternity! Celebrating my late, great Mom on her birthday. ♥


I thought about what prize to giveaway for today. I wanted it to be something extra-special, just like her. I turned to a favorite memory to make my decision. When I was in college, one Christmastime we saw a makeup kit in the store and my Mom was taken with it. The way she lived her whole life was that she always put her child first, herself second. She had never owned a huge makeup kit like that. As we went about our shopping in the store, I knew what to get her for Christmas that year. I will never forget the look of delight on her face when she opened that present from me. She loved it.

The next few years of her life would be her last. Amid serious illness, she would always find joy in opening that makeup kit and putting some on, especially the eyeshadows. After she died, my maternal grandmother and I faced the task of going into her bedroom, which was the master bedroom in the home we lived in together, and going through, sorting her treasured belongings. There sitting on her dresser was the makeup kit. I opened it and softly touched her eyeshadow brush. I gently ran the tip of my finger across some of the colors that I knew were her favorites, used well. I closed it. It didn't seem right to use it. Later that evening, I went back into her bedroom, that still felt so surreal to not have her there, and I picked up the makeup kit again. I took my eyeshadow brush and chose a favorite shade of hers, then put on the eyeshadow. I smiled into her dresser mirror as I closed the kit and placed it back in what seemed its rightful place on her dresser. The day would come a few weeks later, that I would take the makeup kit and bring it to my dresser, taking it as my own. One morning as I reached  for the eyeshadow kit, I would find that her very favorite shade had all been used and was gone. That brought a sadness to my heart. Soon most of the kit would be emptied through years of use between the both of us.

Now we come to my giveaway to celebrate her birthday. I shopped at several of my favorite stores looking for this item. I looked and looked, then I saw it across the store on a display shelf: the makeup kit. It was even in a pink case. I knew I had found the prize. Not just the prize for one of my readers and for one of my Facebook page fans, but I found the prize for myself as well, because it brought to mind this special memory from my life. I offer this prize with the hope it might create a special memory for the winner and their loved ones.

Winner will receive the ULTA Day, Night and Play 77 piece makeup collection in a pink case, valued at $200: 54 eyeshadows, 9 lipcolors, 6 cheekcolors, 2 fullsize lipsticks, 2 mini lipglosses, 2 dual ended liners and 1 eyeshadow quad.

To enter, leave a comment below. Entries will close tonight at 10:00 pm EST and winner will be announced immediately. Good luck, and in the words of my late, great mother, "If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours!".