Giveaway of Cosmetic Heart

Cosmetics ... make-up ... looking glam. The fairer sex likes to glam herself up by painting her face. I envy those ladies with lovely dark eyebrows and eyelashes and clear complexions who don't have to plaster make-up on their faces just so they don't look ghostly or sickly. I'm one of those palefaces who has very fair skin so that you can see the veins under my eyes giving me dark rings. My eyelashes and eyebrows are invisible because they're almost white so I have to wear mascara and eyebrow pencil. But of course, working from home and yet being so busy means many days I don't bother to put make-up on.

My husband says it makes no difference whether I wear cosmetics or not. That takes the pressure off somewhat but doesn't make me feel comfortable going out. Although I like to wear make-up, I don't spend much money on it and normally look for bargains or mark-downs. The only time I will buy a brand name is when I need lipstick because I only like one colour - heather shimmer (I think it's Yardley.)

Cosmetics include face-creams and treatments. I've never really gone for the whole caboodle i.e. cleanser, toner, moisturizer, and anti-wrinkle cream. I simply wash my face with Dove soap and use a simple moisturizer bought at the grocery store. My skin is fussy and only seems to like this one type. I've even tried the expensive creams but my face either ends up feeling dry and taut like a leather purse, or itchy or greasy. I decided to go all natural this month and bought cocoa butter and coconut oil to make my own face cream. I'm very disappointed to say that it didn't work. Itchy, dry, and greasy - the whole lot in one!  So back to my usual I will go. One day, I will spoil myself with a beautiful facial when I don't have kiddies food, clothing, and school books to buy.

Anyway, that's enough of my very gory personal cosmetics details.

The heroine in my latest release started off being a make-up artist. Her father worked in the Durban Playhouse and she used to sneak out of his office and watch the actors practise their lines or even watch the make-up artists at the theatre do up the actors' faces. She wanted to transform people to feel beautiful so studied beauty technology. She obtained a position at a magazine to put make-up on the models for photo shoots but most of the time, she didn't have much to do. A dream she'd tucked away was to write articles for magazines but she didn't think she'd get promoted because of the chief editor's reputation for not granting internal promotions. Besides feeling frustrated career-wise, she's always felt like the black sheep in the family because her family all have degrees and top jobs.

When Daniel, her boss, asks her to pose as his fiancee who left him so that he may save face with his family, she agrees if he will change his promotions policy. Lisa doesn't realise how much her 'yes' changes her life and leads her on a path to face her fears and find answers to her deepest hidden desires.

You can buy Cosmetic Heart on Amazon or at Astraea Press.

I'm giving away a PDF copy of my book to a commenter of this blog post. Please put your email address in the comments block like this: joesoap(at)happymail(dot)com