I’ve never learnt how to do my make up. Not properly. Words like foundation, blush, rouge, day/night cream, brow liner, lip liner scare me. I’ve always made do with lipstick, mascara, eye liner and eye shadow. That’s it. No mess, no fuss.

But when oncology has a quarterly make up course for breast cancer patients and you know you’re probably going to lose eye lashes and brow, of course you sign up for it! It’ll be fun, of course it will, and you might actually learn how to do proper grown-up make up.

Look good feel better is a non-medical, brand-neutral public service program that teaches beauty techniques to people with cancer to help them manage the appearance-related side effects of cancer treatment. The program includes lessons on skin and nail care, cosmetics, wigs and turbans, accessories and styling, helping people with cancer to find some normalcy in a life that is by no means normal.

There are affiliates in 25 countries and in Norway, there are make up courses quarterly at the 7 largest hospitals. If you are a female cancer patient at any of these hospitals I would highly recommend attending one of these courses!

We were a dozen or so women of all ages and make up levels, and the only thing we had in common was our lack of hair. We all got an amazing goodie bag filled with stuff I have never ever owned before in my entire life, which was fun, and we got a great step-by-step demonstration on how to do facials and keep the skin hydrated and look good even when cancer makes you all pasty and bloated and white.

I discovered that my upper lashes have mostly stayed put whilst my lower ones were kinda missing. I can see that my brows are sorely lacking in colour and mass so good to learn the curvature of the brow so one can pencil them in!

The goodies are from a variety of companies, thank you to KLF (The Norwegian Cosmetics Association) for make up and thank you to the volunteers who make it possible!

Unfortunately no pics of me made up, cos my flatigue was pretty bad and I didn’t really think about it, but I truly enjoyed myself. I think we all did – in the midst of hardcore treatment and a horrific illness, these little snippets of joy are what keep us going!