The first words I exchanged with this week’s Queen City Pretty were about football. No, seriously! She’s an Auburn fan and that’s how she first won my heart. Even those who love all things pretty, can love sports. Besides, I am from the deep south….what do you expect?
I then attended Type/Face : A Live Magazine where I heard her live presentation about water quality issues near coal ash ponds in our own backyards! Since then, I have had the pleasure of reading other pieces by this week’s Queen City Pretty. She has truly become one of my favorite freelance journalists in Charlotte.
This week’s Queen City Pretty is Rhi Bowman.
Rhi is a freelance journalist for The Word Trade whose client list includes publications such as Charlotte magazine, Creative Loafing, Crossroads Charlotte, Qcitymetro.com, UNC Charlotte’s alumni magazine and the Carolina Weekly Newspapers.
Personally, Rhi is married with cats and labels herself as a progressive idealist, over-achiever, and generally nice person. Rhi, Thank you so much for taking time to share your beauty regimen with our readers.
Thank you for being this week’s Queen City Pretty.
What is your beauty product must have? Moisturizer with sunscreen. I have family and personal history with skin cancer. In fact, my bio-dad died after melanoma spread to his brain. Skin cancer is serious, and prevention is easy. In fact, I encourage my friends to put sunscreen on their children because most skin cancer is caused by sun damage accumulated before age 15. Also, the bonus: moisturizer and sunscreen prevent wrinkles later in life. I’m 33 and often get carded when I buy lottery tickets. (I always thank the clerk when that happens.)
If I were to peek in your makeup bag, what would I find? Well, thanks to Samantha Smith, a local (and fabulous) make-up artist, not nearly as much crap as you would if you looked a few months ago. Before I asked Samantha to help me makeover my makeup bag, it was full of drug store-purchased makeup. I think it’s fair to say I’m like a lot of other women in that I have a difficult time spending money on myself at times. But, I came to a point when I realized I was wearing the same makeup I was wearing in high school, and it wasn’t doing my skin any favors. Samantha introduced me to mineral makeup, which is fantastic (and includes sunscreen). She also helped tame my love of heavy black eyeliner and bright red lipstick, not that there aren’t occasions for it. With her help, I think I have a softer look that’s finally evolved past my jet-black hair days.
How do you pamper yourself after a long week? We have a new rule in my house: Sundays are for lounging. I spend Sunday mornings reading The New York Times, swilling coffee, snuggling with our cats and, sometimes, watching CBS Sunday Morning. My husband, who is an excellent cook, usually makes breakfast before he joins me on the couch. After we’re done with the paper, we can usually be found in our organic garden or planting trees in our “forest.” (We’re trying to re-forest our lot. As with a lot of newer subdivisions, our home’s builder scraped the lot to the clay before building our house.)
What spa/salon service can you not live without? Pedicures. Lawd, do not let me near my toes with clippers. That is begging for a painful ingrown nail. Also, I like red nail polish … a lot.
Who is your beauty icon? My mother, though she’d probably be surprised to hear me say that as an adult. (When I was little, I often told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world.) She’s not the ideal image of beauty, but she’s gorgeous to me. She takes good care of herself, inside and out, looks decades younger than she is (we often pass for sisters) and she genuinely loves life. She retired from her job as a computer programmer at 50 and has since returned to college to study art and women’s history. When she’s not in school, she’s outside. Thanks to her hard work, her 5 acres of land, in Alabama, is a National Wildlife Habitat. I’m extremely proud of her.
What is your definition of Beauty? The most beautiful people in the world, in my opinion, are the most genuine. I get irritated with people who think they need to paste on a facade, endure plastic surgery or spend a fortune on things to dress up their exterior in order to be accepted by others. Really, I feel sorry for them because they don’t seem to realize that we’re all good enough just as we are.
Any last words? I truly believe most of the world’s problems would quickly be resolved if we would learn to accept others as they are and allow them to accept us as we are.
If you’d like to read more about Rhi , please visit The Word Trade at http://thewordtrade.comYou can also find Rhi on twitter at @RhiBowman
