Shimmerette: The Last Supper (not really)

Makeup. Food. Wine.

Earlier this year Natalie and I spent an amazing evening experiencing all three. In that order. For Christmas we were generously given The Keg giftcards from our boss. Every year we usually go for a lavish dinner together where we order food like we are Arabian Sheik’s, no expense spared. Picture Tony Soprano in Las Vegas throwing money at cocktail waitresses and slot machines, without a single care in the world and that is the two of us, loudly announcing upon our arrival that “We would like the Mafia both and we would like it now, garcon.” (This actually happens, not even kidding.)

We call it The Last Supper.

One frigid January day, plans were formed for that evening. Plans that included going to…. Sephora. IN OUR DEFENSE…. We both received giftcards for Christmas AND Natalie needed something AND I needed something AND I will ride this justification horse till the horse don’t ride no more. Anyways…. We ended up making plans to go makeup shopping and then cap the evening off with our yearly Last Supper at The Keg. To say I was excited was an understatement. All of my favourite things with my favourite person? BYE. I couldn’t even stand it. Natalie gave me strict instruction to STAY IN MY HOUSE when she called me to tell me she was on her way to pick me up. (I have a habit of walking out to the main road to meet her when she picks me up for wine nights like some Lady of the Night, mostly because I am always excited to see her and even more so that I am always hungry.) Those instructions lasted until the first commercial break of “Jenny loves Donny” (I can’t. Even.) and then I was out roaming the streets like a Jehovah recruiter anxiously awaiting her arrival. She began scolding me laughingly when I literally dove into her vehicle but I pretended not to hear her over the sounds of old school Usher blasting out of the speakers. (We heart Usher). We arrived at the mall and then basically stampeded to Sephora. I think we started out walking but as we got closer our pace started to resemble a victim of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Breathless with excitement (yeah, that was it, had nothing to do with my cardio level) I burst into the store, ready to get my shop on. After a quick huddle to discuss our gameplan (“We’ll look at everything first, and then go back and choose things, and then go around a third time to make sure we saw everything.”) we set off. After a good hour and a half of leisurely wandering around playing with everything, we had settled on our purchases. Natalie had the Urban Decay 24 hour eyeliner in Oil Slick (a jet black shade) and some repurchases of the Ole Henricksen skincare line which she uses. Quite a modest haul. Mine? Not so much. I hadn’t bought anything from Sephora in a very long time before this trip. Makeup is a very slippery slope with me. Once I start buying things…. I have zero self -control. It’s all over. So I purposely stayed far away from Sephora for a loooong time prior to this. Like an ex-boyfriend you just can’t quit. Well, if I thought I had “matured” and gained more of a “responsible shopping attitude” during the time I stayed away from Sephora I was sadly mistaken. It was Chris Brown and Karrueche Tran getting back together for the sixth time all up in there. I slowly rounded the store, putting everything I liked into my basket, with the assumption “I’d decide later what I was actually getting”. Hilarity. I chose a beautiful Buxom palette from their Christmas collection (It was on sale!) and one from Tarte too. (It was also on sale!) Natalie is obsessed with her Too Faced Boudoir eyeshadow palette and raves about it constantly so while I was examining the Too Faced section I had to add that to my pile. I had also heard from Beauty Gurus on Youtube so much about the Too Faced Chocolate Bar eyeshadow palette. I played around with the display product they had and swatched the colours on the back of my hand. They were all so beautiful, I couldn’t resist it. Their newest launch, the Semi -Sweet Chocolate Bar palette, was displayed proudly beside the original Chocolate Bar palette. I immediately started swatching all the beautiful, slightly more vibrant shades and fell in love. But I couldn’t justify getting both. There was just no way. There just wasn’t. Just wasn’t. Wasn’t. As I circled the store for the third and final lap (this was supposed to be the trip where I put back things I don’t really need… which would be everything) I realized I was having a debate in my head about getting all five palettes. It was very one-sided. I stood in line at the check-out, still under the impression I would be leaving at least two things behind. “I really shouldn’t. I don’t need any of this. I should just spend what my giftcard is for and be done with it. I don’t need five fricken’ palettes, Bri. You are certifiable. You are leaving some with the cashier, you know that right? That’s final”. I was summoned to the till and the only clear thought in my head was this.

“F*** it”.

I gave my basket to the Filipino boy sporting sparkly blue eyeshadow, eyelash extensions and bronzer and watched him work himself up into near orgasm as he rang through my products. “Oooh you are getting the Chocolate Bar palette? AND THE SEMI-SWEET??? GIRL YOU CRAZY!!! OH MY GOD YOU ARE GETTING THE BOUDOIR PALETTE TOO? IF THIS DOESN’T BUMP YOU UP TO VIB LEVEL I DON’T KNOW WHAT WILL”. It was love at first sight between us. He could not believe that I was getting all five and had started sweating over all the excitement. Well, after all that hard work of shopping behind us, Natalie and I headed to The Keg in anticipation of the spread that would lay before us. We had settled into our usual table in the lounge when our server appeared, smiling welcomingly and bearing menus for us to ponder over and ready to answer any questions we may have.

Wasn’t that adorable.

As she started to give her welcoming speech, we saved her the trouble, Robert Baratheon (GOT) style. “Bring us food and drink, Wench, and be quick about it”. We rattled off our lengthy order without batting an eye as our server had to put down the menus on our table not so we could view them, but so she could write our demands down. Our meals arrived in the perfect time it took to have a bellini or two with our appetizers (which arrived immediately, and there was more than two….) and we proceeded to consume our body weight in steak dinner. The service was impeccable, the food was even more so, and another successful calorie-laden night at The Keg was complete. Best part? It didn’t cost us a dime. Gotta love giftcards.