Recently I had the great fortune of having my makeup done by Mally Roncal for a REDBOOK beauty photoshoot. (I know. More later.) Before she began, she asked about my beauty regimen, which I confessed was likely far below her standards. (It was.) So as she worked on my face, she gave me tips to improve my game. For starters, she told me I should keep my makeup in the kitchen. Everyone should.

 

(I thought, my God this is a woman after my own heart.*)

 

She said, if your makeup's in the kitchen, when you're cooking, you can be applying your makeup at the same time. This is especially great for the products that don't require a mirror—think tinted moisturizer, powder foundation, and other sort of broad strokes items whose application is less complicated. "I'm over here cooking and I'm doing this. I'm blending and I'm doing this," she said, patting powder all over.

 

All this led me to imagine her in her kitchen... and her in other people's kitchens.

 

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah

 

 

 

Someone's in the kitchen I know

 

 

 

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah

 

 

 

 

 

Strumming on the ol' banjo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Singin' fee, fie, fiddly-i-o

 

 

 

 

Fee, fie, fiddly-i-o-o-o-o

 

 

Fee, fie, fiddly-i-o

 

 

 

 

Strummin' on the old banjo.

 

 

 

*I've had dreams of taking over the kitchen with my office—using the shelf where the drinking glasses reside for swatches, using the kitchen island as my work surface, letting the contents of the fridge migrate onto my palette. Confession: My cutting mat is currently on the island much to my husband's chagrin. But the marriage of my design tools and our cooking implements remains a fantasy. Dare to dream girl.