Makeup has been around for thousands of years. All the way back to the Egyptians with kohl eyeliner, oils for their skin and paint for their eyes. Throughout history, there have been times when women have not been considered beautiful unless they wore some kind of cosmetics on their faces. While at other times women were considered whorish or prostitutes if they were caught in it.
Even now some women (and men) do not feel comfortable leaving their own homes unless they have a few products on their faces to hide, or enhance their features. It almost seems like our society now can’t quite decide what they want: Go natural let your inner beauty shine for you or go big, go glam, do what you want. Media portrays that everyone should feel beautiful in your own skin but then shoves ads in your face. It’s quite confusing at times.I thought I would take the time to tell my makeup story. I
I recently watched a video by Anna Saccone-Joly a YouTuber living in England. The video is simple its just under four minutes. But she explains so simply her journey with makeup and how it has affected her life and made her feel beautiful. It is a simple but beautiful story.
Like Anna my journey with makeup started when I was young. But my start was different from hers. Where she saw it on her mom after nights out, I not only saw it on my own mom but I saw it on my own skin when I was three years old. I know what you’re thinking. Three years old? That’s way too young. It was different for me, though, I was a dancer. If you count dancing to the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" a dancer.
I still remember dancing around the house to Celtic music before the recital, I think we still have the tape somewhere. Anyway. To get ready for the recital I had my own special makeup bag. I was very proud of it. I had my own lipstick, blush, mascara, and a little jar of glitter. For the next seven years, I put make up on for three days a year. When we had pictures and for the shows. I put makeup on to dance for the same reason I put makeup on for acting now. If I didn't I would look washed out, pale, and sick.
After I stopped dancing I didn’t wear makeup. I didn’t really have a “need.” There was a want there. I started getting acne. Bad. I would sit in front of the bathroom mirror and poke and pick at the little white and black bumps that appeared on my skin. That is when I went to a Clinique counter to get acne treatments. Now I should say I grew up hearing the word Clinique and seeing the signature C in my bathroom, my Mom swears by it. She has for years. That is where I first got into makeup. You might say “Katelyn this is about makeup, not skincare.” That’s true but you need to have a clean health base. So I started there.
My skin didn’t truly become clear until my senior year of high school now it's pretty clear now but I still get some spots, no one has absolutely perfect skin. Until then my acne was something I was really conscious of. I can’t remember what the first foundation I ever owned was, but I remember I got a little stick of NYC concealer, mascara, and a neutral eye shadow pallet in my stocking that Christmas. I went to town with that stick. I coated those zits with that stick, I probably didn’t blend it in right, I probably didn’t have the right shade. But I couldn’t see the zits. In her video Anna says:
“For the first time ever I felt amazing. I felt like my skin looked so flawless, and so airbrushed and perfect. You know it used to be all bumpy and red and spotty and for once it wasn’t I felt like people could see who I was. I felt like people couldn’t see my bad skin they could see me.”
I felt great. I slowly built up my makeup collection. I started watching Youtube and wanting to do looks like that. I wanted to look pretty. I thought the only way I would look pretty, the only way boys would notice me was if I was pretty, and makeup make me feel pretty. I wore more makeup than my friends but I wasn’t a drag queen. If I wore too much makeup Mom would make me go fix my face. I didn’t really get any boys to notice me. So I grew more attached to make up. I felt more conscious if I wasn’t wearing makeup. The only time I didn’t wear makeup was when I worked at a summer camp, it was just too much. But even in my safe space, I felt like everyone was staring at my skin.
has taken time but I don’t feel the stress of needing to hide my face. My skin is clearer. Makeup is still a thing that makes me feel beautiful but I feel beautiful without it. I don’t need it every day, it’s something I do when I’m bored. If I have a bad day I’ll do my makeup to get rid of the bad thoughts and focus on making the perfect wing. I feel confident wearing a bright red lip, as a friend says #redlip ;) I use the things I’ve learned from makeup to help people, I was the head of the makeup department in my senior musical in high school, and have helped with friend’s makeup for shows in college.
I think makeup is a good thing. It can bring you inner peace and help you feel more comfortable in your own skin. It’s a process, not everyone had the same journey as me. But what makes you feel beautiful is worth it.
