Back when Sex and the City was in its heyday, people used to occasionally stop me on the street to say “Ohymygod, do you know who you look just like? MIRANDA!” It happened regularly–once or twice a week. And if I went to a party where somebody saw a resemblance, word would get around and I’d hear it all night.

I don’t always see it myself, but once in a while somebody takes a photo of me with a Miranda-like quality. Unfortunately, those pictures don’t tend to be very flattering ones of me. The side of my face that looks most like Miranda is my “bad” side, which is weird, because I think Miranda is quite pretty, but not my personal version of Miranda. I’m like the uglier version of Miranda, but just on one side of my face.

During the SV Moms Group contributor party at BlogHer, we got to have makeovers and then a professional photo shoot at Sak’s. My makeup guy was fantastic. He knew exactly how much eye makeup to put on (not much) to keep my eyes from appearing to sink back into my head, and showed me a trick for applying eyeliner to the underside of my top lid to “open” up my eye. It worked, and I was duly impressed. He also raved over my skin, calling it “peaches and cream” when I’d always thought of it more as “veiny and white, like an old lady’s leg”. When you’re putting makeup on me, flattery and skill will get you everywhere…no wonder I bought the Armani foundation he was shilling, even though I a) rarely wear foundation and b) never spend more than $10 on it when I do.

Anyway, my photographer was great, too, but I realized too late that the angle I was sitting in for most of the pictures displayed my “bad” side, or more specifically, my “bad Miranda” side. Check it out…

Good side (but I was goofing off, so I can’t really use this as a headshot…)

Bad Miranda.

Good side

Bad Miranda.

Actually, I think I see a pattern here–pictures of me goofing off are flattering; pictures of me barely smiling are all Bad Miranda. The problem is that the Bad Miranda shots seem more appropriate for professional use than the ones of me goofing around. Which leads me to wonder, does Cynthia Nixon also have a Bad Miranda side, but as a professional performer she’s learned how to get around it? Maybe I should write and ask her for advice…