On my first day of middle school I decided it was time to start wearing makeup. For the first time, I got into my mom's makeup box and painted my face to my perceived perfection. Then everyday for the next eight years I did the same thing.
Makeup is a tool that you can use to cover imperfections and enhance natural beauty, but what happens when you start to believe that all you are is imperfection? When you start to believe you have no natural beauty to enhance? What kind of tool does makeup become then? A wrecking ball maybe?
It took my non-existent college freshman sleeping schedule and a few minutes too many of extra sleep to break my eight-year-long streak -- roughly 2,920 days -- of never baring my fresh face to realize that people would still like me even when they saw my ever present dark-circles, occasional acne, and invisible blonde eyelashes.
Even then, I still hated how I looked without makeup. The spots on my face persisted and my biggest insecurity, the dark circles I'd had since I was just a kid, were never going away no matter how much sleep I got. I knew my friends would still love me, but it was a much deeper issue than that. I wasn't happy in my own skin.
So, I decided to fix what I could by taking better care of my skin. This allowed me to be just brave enough to start leaving the house without makeup. After a while I began to realize that makeup was my problem the whole time. It caused my skin to be bad, but more importantly, it allowed me to cover up what I didn't like instead of accepting my imperfections as an inevitable part of me.
Now going almost an entire 3 months wearing makeup only a handful of times, here's what I've learned: makeup can't be a tool to enhance your natural beauty unless you know what natural beauty you have to enhance and its never necessary. Fresh-faced is beautiful, not to mention going without makeup cuts your "getting ready" time in half and you can rub your eyes whenever you want.
Being brave in your own skin is the most liberating thing you can do for yourself. In a world that likes to pretend imperfection is the 8th deadly sin, by baring your true self, imperfections and all, you become a warrior for change. You become an inspiration to young girls and even your peers by showing them where true beauty lies, in a beautiful brain and a beautiful heart.
So, be brave, be liberated, but most importantly, be confident and know that beauty is more than skin deep. Know that imperfection and natural beauty are often synonymous. Embrace the skin you're in, but if you want to enhance your already beautiful self, do so knowing that you're only as beautiful as you believe you are.
