fake-up
n.— «Female inmates at the Charlotte Jail aren’t allowed to bring in or wear makeup, so they improvise. They use things such as: Skittles candy, Crystal Light and instant coffee to look pretty. They call it “fake-up.” “We get some hair grease stuff and put it on our lips. The ink pens that I have, we use as the eyeliner. This is coffee, the eye shadow,” as Mace pointed to the light shade of brown above her eye. “We use the glitter from cards, so thank goodness people send cards with glitter on them.”» —“Women behind bars: Skittles, Crystal Light as makeup” in Charlotte County Sun-Herald (Florida) June 10, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Susan from Virginia Beach, Virginia, shares the phrase her mother used when the kids refused to eat: It’ll grow hair on your back teeth. This supposed motivator likely blends two older traditions: a German idiom, Haare auf den Zähnen haben...
A listener named Lita who grew up in Cuba shares her favorite Spanish idiom for “working hard”: sudando tinta, or literally, “sweating ink.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Sweating Ink” We had a voicemail from Lita Longa and she...