Page 47 of Mated on Live

“Some are personal purchases, some are brand deals, some are gifts,” she shrugged, unconcerned as she picked up the bag and put it on a table before opening it. “Your skin is really white, with just a hint of blue in it, so my foundations won’t work on you. However, I have some blue themed pallets and white highlighters in here that I think will work just fine. Let’s get a little crazy. But first! Let’s prime my canvas.”

Very quickly, Serval began to understand why it took Sophie so long to get ready.

She had paints and potions and powders for every different part of his face. The sheer amount of product she began putting on his skin made him concerned.

“Why am I more made up than you?” He finally asked as she dragged her brush over his brow.

“You’re getting way less than me,” she laughed.

“You’re barely wearing anything.”

She sat back, giving him an indulgent look, like a mother whose child just said something adorably naive and foolish. “Oh, my sweet summer child. I have more paint on my face right now than the Sistine Chapel.”

“The what?”

“Unimportant. It takes a lot of product to appear natural.” She held her head high. “Especially on camera. Cameras capture every possible flaw and enhance it until it’s the only thing people see. Every pore, stray hair, and discoloration on my face has to be gone or it will be the only things that people focus on.”

Serval’s expression was one of dull disbelief as she used a different powder to stroke silver across his cheekbones. He didn’t know why. His skin wasn’t silver.

“You’re lucky,” Sophie continued, head cocked as she worked, extremely focused. “You don’t really have any pores. Is that a you thing or an allowee thing?”

“My people have very smooth skin. Suits us better underwater. And I don’t have fur like you, so there’s really no need for pores.”

“Lucky ho,” she grumbled. “But your skin is so bright. Compared to mine, you’ll be like a blank sheet of paper. That’s not a good look. So, we have to give you some definition here on your cheekbones, at your temples, and your jawline. Some gray for shadows, some silver for highlight. I’ve actually got a really great blue lip liner; we can sharpen that line where your olules meet your skin. Give that some definition too.”

“It sounds like you’re just remaking my face.”

“Of course. Editing can only go so far, and people are attracted to beautiful people. Especially if these are going out on Earth, I need you to look, just, A+.”

“That’s rather vain.”

“That’s showbiz, baby,” she held out her hands, brush in one, two different powders in the other. “It’s a medium that’s solely visual, so you have to make sure that one sense is fully satisfied. I’ve done photo shoots for brand deals before, and I have to spend a few hours in hair and makeup even when I’m just trying to appear ‘natural’. And since I do my own videos too, I also have to be able to make myself camera ready at all times. It’s just a part of the job.”

Serval fell silent, letting her concentrate on her work. Thinking over this new information.

It wasn’t about vanity. That wasn’t why she spent so long on her looks. It was important to her profession. The same as researching or editing or filming. One that he largely neglected because, really, his stories didn’t need him to pay that much attention to his looks. There had been stories where he had been reporting literally covered in mud because that’s how things were unfolding.

“And voila!” Sophie finally declared, sitting back with a proud smile. “You know, this was a great ‘eyeshadow palette only’ challenge. I should do that for a video. Oh! And we can do an ‘alien boyfriend does my makeup’ video. That’s a great twist on a classic. But that’s for later. Until then, what do you think?”

She snatched up a mirror and held it up. Serval’s eyes widened with surprise as it took it from her, turning his head from side to side.

“That’s incredible,” he breathed, looking at himself from all angles.

It was still obviously his face, but as if he had been painted to perfection. His cheekbones were prominent, his lips were soft, but his usual, natural pale blue skin seemed to glow. His brown eyes were rather plain usually, but she had done something subtle around them that made the ordinary color appear golden.

He had watched her put so much on his face, he could feel it sitting there, but it really looked as if there was nothing.

“I do makeup challenges sometimes,” Sophie said, setting aside her brushes and powders. “It’s not usually stuff that fits on my channel, but I usually give it a candy theme. I did peppermint one year for Christmas, and I did an all brown, chocolate challenge for Valentine’s Day one year. I did a whole makeup palette colab with a beauty influencer once. Point is, I’m not really the best with makeup, but I think I did well. You like it?”

“This is wonderfully done, lov’alel,” Serval admitted, setting down the mirror. “If it’s not too much to ask, would you be able to do this for me during my other shoots? The ones when I’m not live on the field, of course.”

Sophie looked surprised, then delighted. Like she couldn’t believe he wanted that. But he couldn’t deny the quality of her work. It would definitely look good on camera. And if he had time to dress up for his videos, then he had time to let her touch up his face.

“Yes!” She yelled delightedly, throwing her arms around his neck. “Of course, I will! Leave it to me. You’re going to look so good.”

He smiled, returning her embrace. She put a lot of thought into her videos. They weren’t as serious as his, but that didn’t mean she didn’t put just as much effort and work into them.

“Shall we?” He asked, leaning back, not wanting to smudge his makeup. Would it wipe off if he was careless? He wanted to be careful because he didn’t know how fragile it was.

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