“Like when I say something that embarrasses you, how your cheeks turn pink?”
It was literally happening right now. My face was getting hotter. I was just going to pretend that I was fine. “I was thinking more along the lines of how when you’re stressed, it can cause breakouts or a rash. So currently, there are scientists looking at things like frankincense extract. It has beta-endorphins to ease your stress, help regulate cortisol, and it also is an anti-inflammatory and can restore collagen.”
Now he looked interested. “So it’s mood enhancing and has antiaging properties?”
“Yes, it tackles both that brain/skin connection and makes a user younger-looking at the same time. Then you could add something like lemongrass as the scent because it’s been shown to reduce anxiety. We do some aromatherapy with our products now, but we could be doing a lot more.”
Whoops. I realized a second too late that I was talking about Minx like I still worked there.
He made the same mistake when he asked, “So why aren’t we doing that?”
“That’s an excellent question, Marco. I don’t know the answer. I tried pitching it to my boss many times, but he said something about weird crystal-carrying hippies dancing in the moonlight with cats and shot me down.”
Marco took out his phone and started typing. He put his phone back in his pocket. “Just making a note,” he said.
“I think it’s the future of cosmetics. And not just the way it is now—how we try to use ingredients that positively affect the nervous system. But as you mentioned, like with the way skin blushes when you’re embarrassed, what if we could use the nervous system’s reactions to affect the makeup a user is wearing?”
“That could certainly have some interesting applications. I hope that’s something you’ve been working on.”
The truth was, I hadn’t. It was something I’d been waiting on permission for at work when I could have been doing more in my home lab. Why was I always standing aside instead of going after the thing that I wanted? I didn’t need Jerry to tell me it was okay before moving forward with experimenting in a field that fascinated me.
Catalina laughed loudly at something that had happened in the game, and I couldn’t help but smile. I’d always enjoyed her sense of humor. I wished I could be more like her—at ease in any social situation, with any person. Not like myself, consumed with my own awkwardness and lack of social skills.
We were basically friends because she had adopted me.
“She seems like a happy person,” Marco commented.
“Definitely. Until she’s not. But you won’t even know it’s happening. She’s the kind of person who would stab you while still wearing a smile. If you piss her off, you’ll never see it coming. I’ve told her she needs a neon sign on her forehead with her current feelings. Like some kind of face mood ring.”
A face mood ring. There was a jolt and then a buzzing sound in my head. Like I’d been struck by lightning. Marco said something to me, but his voice was too far away, and I tuned him out. That was it. The neurocosmetics application I’d been looking for.
A lipstick that would show the user’s mood. There were lipsticks that changed solely from outside temperatures. Mine would change with temperature, but it would also respond to the user’s nervous system. I began to run the problem through my head. The obvious first issue was that the thermotropic liquid crystals that made a mood ring change colors were toxic to skin. Could I put some kind of barrier around it? But that wouldn’t work—people would forget and touch their lips or eat something and swallow those crystals, and that wouldn’t be good.
What if there was a way to use the crystals and make them not harmful?
I remembered reading a study years ago that I hadn’t thought much about since—it had been about using thermochromic polymer materials to eliminate the toxicity and carcinogenic properties of the liquid crystals. I grabbed my phone and did a search and found the study quickly. I read the abstract. I did another search and found an additional study on certain thermotropic crystals that were not toxic to mammalian cells.
This was it. I started creating formulations in my head. I needed a computer. And my lab.
I stood up. “I have to go.”
Marco also got to his feet. “Anna? What’s going on? You totally spaced out there for a minute.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I just had a really great idea. If I can make it work . . . I think it could change everything in our industry.”
His eyes widened. “That sounds big.”
It was then that I remembered Craig telling me that if I had a big idea, I should come to him. Should I tell him? Would this be a reason to talk to him?
Right now, though, the person I wanted most to tell was Marco.
That felt like another betrayal. I rationalized that I probably only wanted to tell him because I’d been spending time with him.
For now I would keep it secret. It was just for me. When I figured out whether or not it was possible, then I would tell other people.
“I want to start working on it now. Tonight,” I told him.
“Then let’s go.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
“Of course.” He said this like my thanks confused him. I just knew that there were other men who would have pressed me for details or insisted we stay and have fun, that I could work another time. I knew that because it had happened to me before.
But Marco just accepted it.
“I’ll tell you about it when I know whether or not it’s possible.” That made me feel a bit better.
“Anna, you don’t have to tell me anything unless you want to. Let me go grab Catalina and tell her we have to go.”
He walked into the dining room, and again I was struck by how nice he was. I probably would have just left without saying anything, caught up in figuring out whether or not this could work, but Marco was going to make sure that we didn’t leave without saying goodbye to our hostess.
Catalina would have understood either way, but he was right to do it. She got up from the table and said, “Keep an eye on Sanjit!”
He protested loudly that he wasn’t the one who cheated, it was everyone else, as she came over to join us.
“Heading out already?” She gave me a wink and then said, “I don’t blame you.”
Why was she doing that? She knew it was fake.
“Thanks for having us,” Marco said.
“Thanks for coming!”
I figured I should probably jump onto this appreciation bandwagon. “Yes, thank you for the invite. It was nice to be part of a group that didn’t have the word study in front of it.”
Again, I wondered why I couldn’t just stay quiet instead of saying things that were designed to make Marco think less of me.
Catalina gave me a sympathetic smile and then walked over to the door and opened it for us. “I’ll see you later! And, Anna, I’ll be calling you soon.”
She said it like a threat, and Marco laughed at my expression. We walked out to her porch, and she closed the door behind us.
“Is there anything you need for your project?” he asked as we walked down the pathway toward the sidewalk.
I needed that mixer that somebody had stolen out from underneath me. “I haven’t received that consulting fee yet, and the ingredients I’m going to need to buy will be expensive.”