Unwelcome pimple

Today was not a good day for a zit. There's never really a good day for one, but today was bad, bad timing. A beauty company enlisted me to speak about beauty trends on a panel that was videotaped for other executives to watch around the world. Blowout? Check. Manicure-pedicure? Check. Spray tan? Check. I was ready to roll last night and had gotten all the perfunctory services to sufficiently represent my role as "beauty editor."

This morning I walked into the bathroom, looked in the mirror and everything looked swell. I put in my contacts and....crisis! Two big red lumps on my chin. Like red Siamese twins situated North-Northwest. A makeup artist's hardest red-carpet obstacle is raised blemishes -- they can't be concealed. They're topographical anomalies. Nothing can hide a bump.

I try tinted moisturizer. No can do. My blood pressure rises. I desperately grab for any concealer in my makeup kit. None of them works. I have two creamy beige mountains. I'm not staring into a fun-house mirror. This is my true reflection. 

I go to the presentation with two scarlet honkers on my chin. I am the first beauty editor they've seen with bad skin, no doubt. But I survive. They survive. At the end of the day, I give a good presentation, even if I'm  "The beauty editor with zits." What would you have done?

Have you ever had a public display of bad skin? Share your stories!