Wearing Less Makeup Makes Me Feel More Beautiful
I have never been the type to spend hours in the bathroom sorting through makeup; putting it on, taking it off, experimenting with new shades. I didn't ever take an active interest in it. As a nurse, my mom rarely wears makeup and none of my grandmothers or aunts are big into vanity. To this day I'm still not totally head over heels for the stuff. I think it looks fake and cake-like.
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I didn't even start wearing makeup until my freshman year of college, and even then, I only wanted to wear a little -- nothing anyone could notice. So I guess you could say I subscribe to the whole less is more theory when it comes to foundation, blush, bronzer, and tinted eye shadow. But the truth, my friends, is bigger than that. I think wearing less makeup makes me feel like more of a woman. Boom. Said it.
I feel more natural (duh) and more like myself without layers and layers of gloss and glam atop my face. Wearing makeup feels like a treat; something I can do to myself and for myself to jazz up my look. Most importantly, it's not a necessity. If I leave home forgetting to brush some blush on my cheeks, whoops. Don't care. The way I am naturally will do just fine, thanks.
It was never -- and will never -- be imprinted on my brain that wearing makeup is essential to how I view myself or how others view me. I wasn't raised to think that a woman who steps foot outside her door without lipstick and eye liner is to be shunned from and stoned by society. In my house, it didn't go down like that.
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Here's another reason I feel most feminine when I'm not worrying about my mascara running: I don't have any obligations to keep up with. Take, for instance, the Kardashian sisters. Seeing them sans makeup is so rare it's shocking. Obvious lack of celebrity street cred aside, me without makeup is not as shock and awe inducing. Why? Because I don't need to wear it in order to feel like myself. I don't need to put it on before stepping outside so that people will recognize me, or so I'll be noticed. What you see is what you get, folks. And when I see photos of myself without makeup, I don't look at it and think, OMG, WHO IS THAT BEAST? No, instead I feel in charge of my body.
Now let's talk about the confidence issue. Some will say wearing more makeup gives them the surge they need to get out and grab the world by the balls. If that's the case, then I'm kickin' ass and taking names in less makeup. And I'm damn proud of it, too.
Do you think less is more when it comes to makeup?
Image via vancouverfilmschool/Flickr
Written by Kylie McConville for CafeMom's blog, The Stir.
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