I love makeup and I’m not afraid to say it. I have always been a fan of makeup for as long as I can remember. I used to sneak into my mom’s vanity and take out her lipsticks and try out every single shade, and of course even when I smeared it all over my face I still thought I looked amazing when I looked at myself in the mirror.

As I’ve gotten older the makeup world has changed. It’s big on highlight, contour, brows, and lip colors. YouTube gurus show you how to perfectly blend your eyeshadow to make it flawless. It can be a little intimidating to someone who barely or never even wears makeup, but for me I was ready to take on a new challenge and try out the glam world and what I figured out was I was horrible. Do you put eyeliner all the way around your eyes? Am I supposed to look like a raccoon? Can I get away without blending my foundation onto my neck? The answer to those was yes, apparently. Thank the makeup gods for letting me realize my mistakes and come at it from a different approach. I think I’ve improved dramatically from how I started. I even have friends and family asking for tips and for me to do theirs! After I finally gained confidence in the art of makeup, I started seeing something that made me question all the things I had known about makeup.

The “take her swimming on the first date” posts plastered all over social media is the thing I am referring to. I was confused because coming from someone like me I looked at these posts like, “I mean I would be fine with going swimming on the first date idk why everyone thinks that is a bad idea” until I learned what it ACTUALLY meant. It is a boys’ way of saying girls are fake or not as pretty when they wear makeup. Can anyone explain to me how that makes a girl fake or unattractive? To me, makeup is a way to express yourself. It is an art. There are some people who wear smoky eyes and a dark lip every single day and there are other people who just simply wear mascara. It depends on who YOU are. It is horrible to feel like wearing makeup makes you a plastic Barbie and like you can’t be beautiful without it. To me that is completely degrading. For someone to see pictures of a girl who maybe has spent a good deal of time trying to perfect that cat eye to make herself feel good irks me. I am happy wearing makeup and truthfully I am happy not wearing makeup, also. I think no matter what your preference about it is you need to do what you want and not worry about what some guy who doesn’t deserve you says. All I know is that if I was on a date, and a guy tried to make me go swimming, I would be all for it. I can thank waterproof makeup and setting spray for that. Sorry boys!