My daughter found the lead. But my pharmacist confirmed it.
A few days after that famous Sunday, I went to see Nathalie, my pharmacist for the past 15 years. I asked her directly: "Is there a mascara for lashes like mine?"
She looked at me with a smile. "You're the third person this week to ask me that."
And she explained to me what no advertisement had ever told me.
That after menopause, the lash structure changes. That it needs a different, gentler formula, without the chemical agents that dry it out. That it especially needs a different brush, not those enormous brushes that "miss" fine lashes, but a micro-brush capable of reaching each lash one by one.
And that there was now a new generation of mascaras designed exactly for this. With a sheathing film technology that coats the lash instead of sticking it together. That doesn't smudge, even on hooded eyelids. And that comes off with warm water, without rubbing.
"Try it," she told me. "You'll get your gaze back."
I was only half convinced. But when your trusted pharmacist looks you in the eyes and tells you to try... you try.