I grew up in a household with my father, three older brothers, and my mother, who really didn't wear much makeup. Suffice to say, my makeup education was rather lacking. While my best friends started wearing makeup as early as sixth grade, I didn't own my first mascara or eyeliner until I was in 11th grade or so. Even now, four years later, a Sophomore in college, my makeup routine is mostly lipstick, some mascara and eyeliner, and I'm out the door. I decided to challenge myself to not only go outside my comfort zone, but also go an entire month straight wearing a full face of makeup, and this is what I learned:

1. It was even scarier than anticipated.

The extent of my makeup collection comes from the E.L.F and Wet N' Wild section at Walmart, meaning I had to do some shopping to get some more diverse products. In the beginning, I stayed in my comfort zone and bought products like foundation from Walmart, but they were at least slightly more expensive brands than E.L.F, which is literally the cheapest. Eventually, though, I had to recruit my best friend to go to Ulta with me to pick out a different foundation for me because I had absolutely zero clue what shade I was-- they all looked like the same to my untrained eyes. Even with her help, we were still in Ulta for much longer than necessary, because it was kind of overwhelming. So many colors, so little time.

2. I actually enjoyed it.

Something I definitely didn’t anticipate was that once I figured out what I was doing, I actually had fun doing my makeup everyday. I thought I would view it as a chore, but I didn’t. It made me feel good-- not because I didn’t like what I looked like before my makeup, but because it felt good to be taking care of myself. The month that I chose to do this was also a very hard month for me emotionally and physically, and the stress of all of my commitments was getting to me, so taking the time to just be with myself, whether I was dancing around in front of my mirror, or listening to a podcast or Netflix as I did my makeup, was very therapeutic for me.

3. I gained confidence I never expected.

Despite coming across as a pretty confident person due to my extroversion, I've always dealt with crippling self doubt that tells me I'm not good enough, or smart enough, or, of course, pretty enough. And while all the books and movies tell us we're supposed to figure out we love ourselves without anyone or anything else (including makeup), that's not exactly how it works. If my makeup gives me the courage to speak up in a 200 person lecture, even with the possibility of being wrong, or talk to the boy in my class, so be it. Just because I like the person I am wearing my makeup, doesn't mean I have to hate who I am without it. I can love both.

4. People were more likely to compliment me.

On the first day I started this trial I was told: “Camila, whenever I see you, your eyeliner is always on fleek!” which was such an unexpected compliment, it made my entire day. And people didn’t just compliment my makeup, but also my outfits and me as a person, despite the fact that I didn’t change how I dressed or who I was throughout the month. I was even told by an underclassmen that I always “look like you have your life together,” which is completely not true, but it was nice to know that’s what it looked like. It's not as if I never get compliments, but it felt like people were more comfortable giving me compliments during this month.

5. People were also more likely to criticize to me.

I found that the more makeup I wore, the more people assumed they could tell me how I should go about “fixing” the rest of myself. Straightening my hair more often, dressing differently, and changing my eyebrow shape were all things I heard that I should change, but by far the worst was about “what guys want/like.” Suddenly, it looked like me applying bronzer to my face was actually an invitation for people, mostly males, to tell me that, in fact, guys prefer the “natural look”-- whatever that means...

Newsflash, I haven’t really cared about what guys “prefer” since I was in high school. I learned from a pretty young age that guys don’t really like me-- and if I had to change anything about myself to try to get them to like me, I wasn’t happy, and they still didn’t like me, so it was a lose-lose situation. If I learned anything from 2013 Nash Grier, it was that even guys don't know what guys like. So no, I don’t care that a guy likes me even less because my eyelids sparkle like the North Star, I'm still gonna do what makes me happy.

6. I realized once more how sexism affects women (and men).

As someone who, up until a few weeks ago, had rarely, if ever, worn a full face of makeup, I knew just how sexist it was that it is an expectation that women wear makeup. Before you start on me, yes, I understand the expectation to groom oneself is placed on both genders, but there is so much more criticism on women to the point that makeup itself is controversial. Girls are told to be pretty so they wear makeup, then get told they only do it for boys, say they do it for themselves, get called conceited, get told they "look so much better" without makeup, but when they don't wear it, get asked why they look sick. It's a cycle-- wear makeup, but don't enjoy it, don't admit it; cover yourself up, but god, why don't you love yourself enough not to have to wear makeup??

Oh, but if you have acne scars, hyperpigmentation, or, god forbid, facial hair?

This is the one time a "Frozen" GIF is ever appropriate.

So if I enjoy makeup or not, it's not only expected of me, I'll also still be criticized for it. Ten years ago, Jespersen v. Harrah's Operating Co. ruled that women could be fired for not wearing makeup because of dress codes-- which once again, can and do affect men, but not to nearly the extent with which they regulate female bodies.

When I've voiced these concerns to male friends, I'm often met with "Well, at least you can wear makeup, if a guy is ugly, he's stuck being ugly." Hey, I'm not stopping any guy from wearing makeup if he so chooses-- some of the fiercest makeup tutorials on YouTube are by guys with much better eyebrows than me.

They only thing stopping guys from wearing makeup is their own egos and the same patriarchal society that tells women they have to wear makeup.

I think what I take most from this experience is that makeup, like so many other things in life, should exist to make me happy. If that means only wearing eyeliner and mascara some days, okay, and if that means full contour with fuschia lips and gold eye-shadow, that's okay too. Now that this little experiment is over, I probably won't do full makeup every day, because there were quite a few days I wound up running late to class because I underestimated the time it would take, or I just wanted another hour of sleep, but I'm glad it's a skill I now have. Guy or girl, if it's something you're interested in, go learn, but if it's not your cup of tea, don't feel pressured to learn either.