Every time I put on make up to go out to a bar or a party, I think of one of my Mortuary Science teachers. Professor M. taught several of our classes, mostly in history, theory and business. He also taught the Restorative Arts class, where we learned how to build facial features, different sorts of sutures, and how to make up a corpse.

There are all sorts of tips and tricks, one of which is the use of lights in the funeral home. If you look, you will often see a torchiere lamp at the head and food of the casket. Often, they have rose or red tinted globes. Occasionally, there are candles in red at the head and foot of the casket too. Along with looking nice and providing ambient lighting, these lamps help provide colouring for the deceased. There are lights at the front of the room that are adjusted depending on how the make up artist is working on the deceased.

This, combined with an excellent job by the cosmetician, help the deceased look more life like.

Take that same dead person, and bring them to the church, and open the casket there, and they don’t look nearly as good anymore. Different lighting. *Natural* lighting.

See, lighting is key. Think about how you look when you go into a bathroom filled with fluorescent lights.

What does this have to do with anything, you ask?

Well, I wear make up. I actually did learn quite a bit about applying my make up to myself from this class. What colours balance the skin, what covers up blemishes, and, the impact of lighting. Though I never did pick up on the ‘less is more’ part. I like make up.

The make up I wear during the day is much different than what I wear at night. What I wear at night looks a little odd during the day.

As we learned in school, darkness is rather forgiving. In a dark candle lit restaurant, or a dim bar, what looks a little over the top and ridiculous on the subway looks great.

Professor M. learned all these lessons on lighting the hard way.

“Natural lighting” he’d always tell the guys “Before you take a girl home for the night from the bar, make sure you see her in natural lighting. Women know all these lighting tricks. You never know what your going to get, unless you check in natural lighting.”

I think I look pretty damn good in natural light.