I’ve never been someone who wears a lot of makeup, I usually wear foundation, mascara and a little blush. Although I don’t wear a lot of makeup, I always feel more confident and put together when I wear it. Women are told they look more put together and are more desirable if they highlight their features with makeup. When we don’t wear makeup we are told that we look tired, sick, lazy, or unprofessional. I have fallen into routine of doing my makeup almost everyday since I was 15 because I believed that I was unattractive without it. I wanted to challenge my perception of beauty by going make-up free for a few weeks and see how my confidence was affected.
I usually wake up every morning and do my skin care routine and then put on makeup before going anywhere. It was a bit odd only washing my face in the morning and having to ignore my makeup bag on the counter. The first few days I found it hard to look in the mirror and feel confident about how I looked. My eyebrows weren’t completely filled in, my eyelashes weren’t as noticeable without mascara, and I had blemishes that weren’t covered up. I used to always fill in my eyebrows on days where I didn’t put any other form of makeup on, it made me feel more confident about myself so not filling in my eyebrows was hard for me. I was very harsh when evaluating my face without makeup: Why don’t I have clear skin? Why do I still have acne scars? Why can’t I be one of those girls who is genuinely pretty without makeup? Why can’t I love myself how I am?
These questions circled my mind for the first week but eventually they faded into the background. I was able to sleep a few extra minutes in the morning before class because I didn’t have to do my makeup routine. I was grateful for the extra sleep. I was starting to feel like not wearing makeup was normal and I wasn’t as self-conscious about how I looked. The one thing I was self-conscious about was that people would think that I wasn’t trying or that I didn’t look as put together. Then I realized that society has driven that idea into women’s minds since we were young – that you can’t possibly look as good without makeup as you do with it. This realization changed my perspective completely – I need to feel confident for myself and not for others.
After I got the notion of feeling confident for just me and not caring about how others perceive me, my attitude completely changed. I stopped questioning why I wasn’t as pretty as other girls without makeup and started questioning why I didn’t feel like I was one of those girls. Everyone is pretty without makeup, makeup is just there to enhance the features we like about ourselves. In the last few days, I haven’t judged myself for not wearing makeup and I’ve felt pretty without makeup for the first time in my life. The urge to wear makeup has declined a lot in last week and I don’t think I will be wearing it as much as I used to. I’m very happy I decided to challenge my own perception of beauty because I feel much more confident in myself. I know now that makeup is not what makes me beautiful, how I see myself does.