Activist Katya Kostromina about favorite cosmetics
FOR RUBRIC "COSMETIC" we study the contents of beauty cases, dressing tables and cosmetic bags of interesting characters to us - and we show all this to you.
On the work of dogsiter, ghostwriting and activism
I am twenty-four years old - now I am still a proud student of a journalism department at Moscow State University, but in two weeks a diploma defense, and that’s all - graduation. For over a year I have been working as a dossitter. This means that other people's dogs live with me while their owner is away, and I organize a juggling: I walk, feed, play, scratch behind the ear, solve conflict situations. It’s like a child from the outside: you have a dog in which you don’t need to invest money, but in reality this real adult life is a responsibility, compliance with the regime, reading specialized literature and a ton of stress tolerance to gain credibility. I love this work very much, because it brings me not only income from what I understand and love, but also a huge positive feedback in the form of puppy delight in the truest sense of the word.
I also work as a ghostwriter for blogs, cable channels, personal sites, from longrids to posts on instagram. I am writing on behalf of media personalities of different levels of popularity. Most often this is a dust-free job: I express my thoughts as strangers so that the reader will believe that the idol really loves, for example, the work of Albert Camus or understands suprematism. Although the lack of such knowledge does not say anything about you, sooner or later, many succumb to the temptation to look "better" in the eyes of subscribers - in every sense. But now I am not in that financial position to discourage the client from his services in the spirit: "The fact that you do not distinguish Fassbender from Fasbinder, and Monet from Mane does not make you a less interesting person."
As a hobby, I lead the telegram channel Territory of Wine and Feminism and write down a lot of stories on feminism on the instagram. My young man and friends believe that I am already an activist and a blogger. At first I didn’t baptize for a long time, but, looking soberly at the situation, I realized that they were probably still right.
About care, sports and bad habits
For me, taking care of myself is a comfort in my own body: I do not practice violent or just discomfort practicing, even if they are generally accepted. It is important to note here that I still fit into the framework approved by society: I am naturally tall and relatively slim, although I have never been on diets. The fact that I do not limit myself in eating habits and healthy sleep does not cause anyone, except for my boyfriend's mother, a stormy indignation. I have normal skin, which was not affected even by puberty, so in the morning I just wash my face, moisturize my face before applying makeup, and in the evening I wash off the makeup with micellar water.
I like to spend my free time with friends and go for a walk. "Ponaehav" to the capital seven years ago, I still madly love Moscow, but still do not know it to the end. At the same time, I really do not like exercise: fitness, stretching, swimming, jogging, yoga - it all sounds like torture, but I really walk a lot. I love to ride a bike: with the opening of the season I try to move by twisting the pedals. I sincerely believe that sport should be high. I will easily and with great pleasure enter into the game of beach volleyball, play a football match in the yard, go off to the tennis court with my sister, but I can never do something athletic just because I stupidly need to. A good physical and psychological form for me is inextricably linked.
I would like to quit smoking, but for now I’m fooling myself that I can always do this with a strong-willed decision. Being very high, I always hunch, so I plan to go for a massage and combine business with pleasure. I try not to forget to do a manicure, because this is the only thing that at least temporarily saves from the sadistic habit of picking up burrs to the stage like that of the heroine of the “Black Swan”.
About smooth shooters and makeup experiments
I started painting at fourteen. Of course, especially bold experiments were conducted at home, and the maximum with arrows in front of my eyes came to school. My preferences in makeup, clothes, and even behavior were somehow especially traumatized by conservative-minded teachers. For so long, I only made arrows, I quickly filled my hand and understood how brushes and markers work, how to draw a thinner line and how to beat my slightly hanging eyelid.
At sixteen, my surgical precision allowed me to make perfectly smooth arrows, and not only for myself, but also for all my friends. Until twenty years in my beautician were only lipstick and eyeliners of all colors of the rainbow. From friends make-up artists, I learned that most cosmetic products are universal, so I began to periodically use lipstick as a blush and cream shadow. Now I am experimenting with shadows, their pigments and textures in front of my eyes, studying the transformation of my appearance and not paying attention to the theory of color types. If I live with makeup textbooks, then with my brown eyes all my life I would be doomed to blue Smokey Eyes. For me, makeup is a game, not a set of clear rules. This is an opportunity to know yourself, and not like someone else.
About self-assessment and modeling
In elementary and high school I was frankly harassed, calling me "Katya Pushkareva" from the then-popular TV series "Don't be born beautiful." Despite the fact that my parents always supported me and inspired me to be the most beautiful in the world, peer ridicule was hit hard by self-esteem. I carried all these doubts in myself in silence, never showing society that I doubt.
When I moved to Moscow, I was immediately noticed by a scout of a modeling agency, and within a year the complexes disappeared. I have developed an atypical story with modeling, considering what a toxic area it is in Russia. I could never understand the passion of retouchers to gloss over my moles. I am a strongly pigmented lady, and without them I’m just another person who is impossible to recognize. I get very upset every time if someone classifies moles as a “defect”, and after having taken photographs in documents without these spots, I had problems with border guards at the airport, I ask photographers if possible to keep them on the finished picture.
