Thoughts and Reasonings | Why I Love Makeup
/“Beauty is not about make up it’s about what it makes you to be from within.”
Let me begin by saying that I’m not trying to justify myself. I don’t think that I need to justify myself. I know and understand the reasons why I wear makeup.
My relationship with makeup is free from drama and weighty expectations. I didn’t wear makeup in high school and only started experimenting with it in my last year of college and that was really only for my grad photo. I don’t have a complicated relationship with it though, it’s a relationship that is full of self-discovery and growth.
Symbolically you could say that makeup was my coming of age, when I was younger I wasn’t allowed to wear makeup so I had no experience with it at all, the only think I wore was lip balm. Bon Belle all the way. So when I graduated from college and started working I plunged head first into mineral makeup. They were great because you could get a sample of the colour you wanted to try for less than a dollar. I was able to try a variety of colours and finishes with minimal cost.
At this time I wasn’t asking permission or begging forgiveness,I was exploring this new landscape. I was a grown woman, stepping into my own. Even if it was just makeup at that moment. I wore bright greens and vibrant purples just for the fun of it, I wore it work and to church. I didn’t have much technique or know how but i was just going with it. By this time, Youtube had just started so I would watch those early YouTubers who tended to be makeup artists and learn as they did their makeup. I wore my makeup without apology or rationalization, and surprisingly nobody questioned me or disparaged the fact that I chose to wear makeup.
Makeup was like discovering a creative jackpot. From eyeshadows to blushes there were so many different looks that I could accomplish. Some of the looks I created turned out great others not so much. But like I do now when I’m playing in my palettes, I would just wash it off in the shower, excited for the next look I would try.
I’ll be honest there was a small dark side to my love of makeup, especially in the early days. I started to feel that on my complexion the colours just weren’t as nice, and for the first time in my life really I became self-conscious of my dark skin tone, and wished that I was lighter because I felt that if I was lighter I could do the makeup better justice. I was young and didn’t no better. I didn’t know how to make the makeup work for me in a way that would highlight and enhance the richness of my skin tone. I know better now. It did get me started my skincare journey though. Since there was no way for me to lighten my skin tone, apart from bleaching it which I had no intention of doing, I thought I’ll get my skin to be the best that it can be so that I don’t depend on makeup to make me feel like I look good or that I’m beautiful. My skincare journey is another story however.
So now 10 years into this love affair, I can see my progress, some things I still love like my mineral eyeshadows (pressed and loose, though at the moment I do prefer the pressed), while other things I’m over, like quality over quantity. It doesn’t make sense to me to buy ten blushes that are so-so quality for $20 when I could purchase one blush that works better for the same $20. My perspective has changed, and so the way I make my purchases has changed. I now value longevity, quality and performance over price tag, though I still try to get the goods on sale if I can, hey saving some money never hurt anybody’s wallet.
When people say to me ‘You don’t need to wear makeup’ I say I know, but I want to wear makeup, thankfully to me makeup is a joy and not a chore. There’s still a lot that I still have to figure out like how to stop my foundation from transferring, I set it but that bad boy don’t want to stay still.
I’m not aiming for perfection when I do my makeup, I only want to visually express what I’m feeling. That is what makeup is to me a creative outlet, another avenue that I can use to creatively express myself, and I love it. You truly can’t become bored with makeup, there are far too many colours and textures and finishes for it to ever be monotonous.
That’s why I love makeup, on Monday I can be matte neutral and on Tuesday I can go Barbie pink with winged liner and lashes (though to be honest I need work on my lash application). The limit is what you set it at.
Are you a makeup enthusiast? What do you love about makeup?
