Lipsticks and blushes and brushes, oh my. As a makeup addict, people often wonder what I am wearing on my face. Some may think it’s something expensive, and others are wowed at how I am able to wing out my eyeliner— it’s always on fleek. A controversial topic revolving around the beauty world is that women and even men wear makeup because of our insecurities, or for a special someone. News flash everybody, that’s not necessarily the case. Makeup was never something to mask my insecurities, at least not entirely. It has become my passion to get up and ready in the morning to paint my face. Yes, paint my face.
The uniqueness of makeup is that it’s a fine art as a face becomes a blank canvas. I remember as a kid, I would rummage through my mom’s makeup bag to play with her eye-shadows and lipsticks. There was something about makeup that drew me in to the different color combinations and products. For me, walking into a Sephora, or even a Walmart, is like I walked into heaven; makeup glowing everywhere. When my friends look at my makeup collection, their jaws drop as they begin to lecture me on how I have too much. I don’t believe in always buying the most expensive makeup product at the department stores. Sometimes expensive doesn’t always mean good. It’s all about the quality and not the quantity. I find myself investing in products such as eyeshadow palettes (they last forever), liquid lipsticks (sometimes drugstores don’t make them perfect), and the occasional highlighter. Just because something is $70 doesn’t always mean it’s better than the $5 product from Maybelline. When I discover something good, I will most likely not venture out into other products, at least personally. As the saying goes, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”
Even though I love teaching, makeup will always have a special place in my heart. A few amazing beauty gurus such as Michelle Phan, Jaclyn Hill, KathleenLights (Kathleen), and even IamJustaMakeupLover (Olena), have helped me to always better my makeup skills. Sometimes, one just needs to practice over and over again. Don’t worry, makeup washes off at the end of the night. I cannot tell you how many times I still feel like my eyeliner is either too thick, or too long. Even experts may fail at what they do from time to time. I’m not perfect. The beauty of makeup is that it can enhance your beauty, transform you, and create something absolutely magical. It’s truly hard to explain the art of beauty in just a few words.
Like art, there are challenges to applying makeup. For starters, we all have different skin types such as oily, combination, dry, acne-prone, sensitive, etc. Trying to find the right foundation that will cover our skin needs can be a little tricky. I have oily skin in the summer and sometimes combination skin in the winter. Combination skin can be tricky, due to having some dry patches with a little bit of oil on certain parts of the face. We also all have differently-shaped lips. Sometimes I get jealous of girls with bigger lips, because I can only think about the amount of space they have to apply a bold lip color.
We also all have differently-shaped eyes such as monolids, deep set eyes, and even hooded eyes. The challenge is to not treat every eye shape as the same. The complexity of applying eye-shadow, no matter what type of eye you have, is just another part of creating beautiful art because we all look different no matter how we accomplish it. Not to mention the diversity of different skin tones and the use of creating different looks with similar shades. For me, makeup brushes become my tools and the actual makeup becomes different forms of mediums to use on the face. From liquids to powders to creams, there’s a variety to choose from. I love being able to create different art on my face, regardless of whether it’s a natural look, or a bold one.
Makeup is yet another art expression that thousands of people find interesting. I have seen crazy looks that go beyond creativity of standard art. I’m not a good artist on paper, but I get excited to learn about new looks to try, to change up what is on my face. It might seem weird, but I find the results are always beautiful. I don’t believe that one needs a huge makeup collection to be an expert at makeup. It’s about the way you apply it on the face. Think about it in the art perspective, where you can buy the most expensive paints to create your own masterpiece. If the artist doesn’t know how to use it, it wouldn’t matter if that paint was expensive, or cheap. The same can be said for makeup.
Being able to strategically map out the face and perfecting as well as learning new techniques, is what creates the beautiful masterpiece of makeup. Makeup to me will always be a fun and exciting passion of mine that comes to life in all of its glory. I have a lot to learn, but I’m always excited to see the progress I made since playing with my mom’s old makeup when I was a kid. Don’t be afraid to experiment and practice, if you find makeup to be fun, artistic, and just as exciting. Do what makes you happy when playing with makeup and don’t worry about what others may think about your bright blue eyeliner. Have fun and create your own unique work of art.
