I'm Not A Beauty Guru, But I Want To Talk About Make-Up

Make-up is a huge thing right now. It’s always existed and played an important role in people’s lives, specifically women, but things have been changing at an alarming pace in the last fifteen years. Make-up is now the nucleus of an elaborate, financially abundant industry, it’s become a hobby and a means of living for many, and some could even argue it’s a form of artistic expression. Make-up is slowly embraced by a larger diversity of people, and it’s now socially acceptable for people who would traditionally not be expected to put make-up on, to engage with this concept. Many of us might have said at least once in our lives that we can’t go out in public without make-up on. Finally, make-up is something I still feel uncomfortable talking about.

I wear make-up almost every day, especially if I have commitments to fulfill outside of my own house – classes, work shifts, errands to run or people to meet. I have been wearing make-up for almost six years now and putting make-up on is part of my usual daily routine. Am I good at it? Not a chance. I only know the basics and I don’t even consider turning it into a one-hour ritual, anyway. And although wearing make-up is something I’m used to and something I actively choose to do every day, I can’t help but nurture adversity towards it.

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To me, make-up feels like a mask. Not just a physical one, that we use to hide our imperfections or highlight the features that we think are most beautiful about us. Whenever I put make-up on, I don’t do it just because I want my face to look in a certain way, but also because I want my presence to be perceived in a certain way. The me who does her make-up in the mirror every morning is different from the me who goes to bed in the evenings, fresh-faced and mulling over the day’s events. This make-up-wearing me is more sociable, more daring, more confident. She has her shit together no matter what and she wants the world to know that she’s staying on top of things. She is always smiling with her eyes, she is always positive and always ready to have the best time of her life. And I can’t help but think that I’m not the only person who feels the responsibility of putting on such a façade.

Zooming out on the society that we live in today. It is so important to be physically pretty. It is so important to always know what you’re doing and where you’re going. It is so important to share how good you can make yourself look and what an amazing life you live, and others have to know and admire and validate this for you to move forward. Yes, I do argue that there is a relationship between people’s tendency of being judgemental, social media and how we use make-up in 2018. I see it wherever I look, and it makes me too uncomfortable to enjoy wearing make-up anymore.

If I have foundation and red lipstick, then make-up is completely covered.

(source: personal archive)

The reason why it felt necessary for me to start wearing make-up every day six years ago was that I was struggling to find myself pretty to begin with. I’ve had a lengthy bad experience with acne and that took an immense toll on my self-image, self-esteem and, eventually, my mental health. Looking back, it breaks my heart that no-one was there to show me how to get to know myself, and therefore appreciate myself better, and no-one had the emotional depth to explain all of the things that I mentioned earlier. I do know better now, but I didn’t back then and had to learn it all by myself. But that didn’t happen until after years of caking my face up with as much foundation as possible and circling my eyes with dark eyeshadow to make sure that people would look there rather than at the spots on my face.

It was in university that I started wearing less make-up, as my skin problems diminished. Not only was I better educated about what wearing make-up and skincare meant, but I also started gaining more confidence in the way I look – and that was connected to just being more happy at university, surrounding myself with amazing and appreciative people and falling in love. It was then that I learned that I can go without make-up – I am just as beautiful, just as smart and just as funny, and the paint on my face had no influence on how cool of a person I was. Because yes, make-up is just paint you put on your face. Feel free to get offended over it.

And somehow, the less often I wore make-up, the more I started learning about it, too. I found styles and techniques suitable for my face features, learned more about the types of products that would work best for me, and I followed more make-up-related content online. I really took my time with it rather than pressured myself into doing it right and fast and frankly, it’s this way that I had more fun wearing make-up. Make-up has turned from a drag and a desperate necessity to something light, something nice to play around, something not so serious anymore.

Which actually brings me to my next point: I think society tries to make wearing make-up less fun for us. Because of how big of a role make-up plays right now, people are more likely to hold others accountable for the way they choose to wear it. There is pressure for others to follow the latest trends, wear certain products and outline and adjust every little feature on one’s face. You might as well not even bother if you don’t use a certain palette or you don’t know how to use contour. Which by the way, it’s silly. Might be the most unpopular opinion ever, it could be misinformed, too, although I used contour myself: I just find it so stupid that people use powder to make the bones of their face look in a certain way. Who even cares enough to notice? And this is where I wanted to get from the very beginning: we shouldn’t give a toss about how other people’s faces look.

When I do my make-up, I usually like going for a simple style.

(source: personal archive)

You like wearing contour? Wear it with pride. You struggle to find the utility of contour? High-five, sis, same. You like drawing on a pair of eyebrows that look nothing like the brows you were born with? Fair fucking enough, go ahead and own it like it’s the best thing you’ve ever had. So much time goes to waste while we judge the way other people look and how they choose to alter their appearance when in fact, there’s not a single way in this world that these decisions can impact us directly. This time and energy could go on doing something positive, something meaningful and good like encouraging others to express themselves through make-up, without fear of being judged or put down. There are just so many causes worth making an effort for, significantly more positive than making others feel bad, especially for something like their choice of make-up. At the end of the day, make-up is a liability and I will not accept to be put down for wearing too much make-up, not wearing enough make-up or wearing the wrong kind of make-up. In 2018, people get offended over the paint I put on my face – it’s really not my priorities that need to be changed. Please, don’t make wearing make-up less fun. You make us all miss on the good stuff.

Down below you will find some of the fun make-up content that I love watching in my free time, as well as my beauty-related Pinterest board. I use Pinterest quite a lot for all the inspiration that I need, may it be make-up, fashion, university or recipes – make sure you follow me on there if you haven’t already! I’m also excited to carry the conversation on in the comments section below!