Does anybody else out there have a weird, up-and-down relationship with makeup? Because I know I do. These days, I’ve got an entire desk drawer full of lipglosses and eyeshadow pallets, but there are definitely times where I resent the entire industry, for a lot of reasons.
Speaking for myself, I know I go through phases of being super into makeup and then getting super frustrated with it. The arc usually starts with me seeing another girl rocking a chic dark lipstick or a super sparkly highlighter, and my eyes get all round and shiny, and all I can think is “ooh pretty.”
And I’m right usually about that because they are pretty.
So then I start wearing makeup again, but it starts feeling like a habit. Then, one day, I don’t have the time for it, and that’s when I get nervous. Because now if I show up somewhere where people are used to seeing me with long batty eyelashes and big pink lips and I come in without those things, what will they think?
I’ve gotten comments like: “Is something wrong?” “Are you tired?” “Are you sick?” And on one hand, I want to say, “Shoo fly, don’t bother me,” but on the other hand I’m also like, “Did I create this problem myself?”
Usually, my makeup phase breaks the first time I walk past a mirror with a bare face and I hear those questions come from my own mind. Oh god, is that what I really look like? And that’s when I realize that I’m no longer doing this because I still enjoy the “ooh pretty,” round-eyed, wouldn’t-this-be-a-fun-look-today eagerness, but because now I feel like it’s a requirement.
Because now I feel like makeup is the expectation for my face to just exist rather than a thing I get to enjoy.
That’s the moment when I think we all need to take a little step back from makeup, especially myself. Do a detox. Go bare-faced. Be chill. Have fun. You look absolutely perfect just the way you are. Makeup can be a fun way of self-expression and art, but it’s only worth it if it keeps staying fun.
The big trick is to make sure you’re always doing it for yourself and not because you’re trying to impress someone else or live up to an impossible standard. If you feel like making yourself up one morning, do it because you want to, and the moment that doing so no longer makes you happy, go ahead and drop it.
It’s supposed to be about you anyway. <3