As a person who has been struggling with depressive episodes and emotion-regulation since the wee age of eight, self-isolating in the name of public health has been intense. While I value my mental health and social life, I feel a strong duty to preserve peoples’ safety. That sense of duty has led me to pursue a master’s degree in public health, starting this coming fall (for which I’m SO excited). However, when applying for a graduate program in public health, I didn’t think I would end up experiencing the first pandemic in a century. The COVID-19 crisis has proven to offer a few more personal challenges than, say, your typical Mercury-in-Retrograde; and like so many people during this pandemic, I’ve found myself struggling to do basic self-care, as I have been busy ruminating on the newest bad news every day. So when my best friend tagged me in a Grinkie Girls’ social media post for a model call, I contacted Christi immediately. I was both familiar with Christi’s glamorous pinup photography and Lela Wright’s makeup and hair magic. I sent the email, and crossed my fingers in hopes that I would soon have an afternoon carved out of my schedule to look and feel like a sex goddess.
I truly don’t think anything rejuvenates the spirit so much as dressing up to the nines (or dressing down, *wink wink*). Nothing brings me joy quite like getting fancy, except maybe singing as loudly as possible to the radio in my car. Luckily, Christi invited me to come play dress-up with her, and for a month I sat eagerly waiting. And then, as Murphy’s Law dictates, I started PMSing right before my shoot. I desperately moisturized to alleviate the acne and stress-eczema all over my face, to no avail. The day of the shoot, I felt about the human equivalent of soggy bread. I thought there was no way I was going to feel pretty, let alone sexy or empowered, or do Christi’s gorgeous studio space justice. But I packed my duffel bag full of lingerie and my old prom dress, and hoped for the best. I really got so much more than I was expecting. Not only did Lela paint my face to the gods, Christi immediately made me feel welcome and comfortable. I wiggled into my prom dress, and they pinned a gorgeous floral headdress into my hair. I was a woman transformed, metamorphosed into a beauty from an Alphonse Mucha painting. And this was all before Christi took pictures of me in my underwear. She pumped up the 90’s slow jams and we laughed the whole shoot. Needless to say, my afternoon was a pick-me-up well worth the wait.
