Before you read any further, I want my readers to know that I support the art of makeup. Everything from the highlight a makeup artist can construct, to the glittery cut crease on eyelids by the latest makeup guru, it is truly an art. I take part in putting on my “face” some mornings as well. But over a cup of coffee and a pat pat pat of my blending sponge, I start to wonder… “Why am I doing this?”
Beauty is simply an ideal, formed by society’s opinions. It has no true definition, no true image. It kills me to see girls my age falling over each other to buy the newest palette from Sephora on Black Friday, when maybe, 5 years from now there will be an entirely new age of makeup that everyone is obsessing over? Beauty ideals change over time. You see it from the start of humankind, Egyptians would line their eyes with kohl and mash up plants for eye color. Flash forward to the middle ages in Europe, pale skin was seen as a sign of wealth. Some women would even take to drastic measures of bleeding themselves to achieve paleness. In Elizabethan England, egg whites were wore on women’s faces for a “glazed look”. By the 1900’s, mascara was invented. The new century also took to seeing the start of makeup tattoos. Will we really go to this length to achieve a beauty ideal?
While striving not to underestimate the talent and work of makeup artists, all I am failing to understand is the amount of emphasis we put on it. When the new trend will emerge in the next few years, leaving our current products in the dust, why are we shelling out our entire paychecks on a trip to Ulta? Many will respond by stating their makeup routines “enhance” their natural beauty. But answer me this, how are we enhancing our beauty when we wake up at least an hour earlier than we can to put on our face? Somewhere along the line, we went from “enhancing” to transforming.
“It makes me feel better”, “it gives me confidence” “I feel more like a boss when I beat my face”. You know what will really, truly make you feel better? Being comfortable with a naked face. You know what will give you more confidence? Accepting yourself for who you are, and what you look like, and absorbing that this is what you have been given for life. Because no palette can give you that kind of confidence. No brush, no highlighter, and no fake eyelashes will give you the same satisfaction you will get from taking strides in your career. Getting that internship. Getting that promotion. Standing up for yourself in the workplace, asking for that pay raise you deserve. Or maybe finally showcasing your artwork. Maybe taking up journalism. Makeup artists, keep doing you. You guys have found your passion, and it’s the art of makeup! But even they know, they don’t need a beat face every single day to feel like themselves.
I never felt truly comfortable in my skin, until I found my knack for writing. Whatever it may be, whatever your knack is, please, go for it! From someone who would put on makeup every single day, who could not leave my house unless I had some foundation and eyeliner on, you won’t feel like a badass until you find yourself. Not the one who can flick her eyeliner to perfection, or the one everyone wants their makeup done by, but the one who found her passion.