Imagine being raised with the idea that your roll is primarily in the kitchen. You’ll find your respect in accordance with your relationship with a man or being considered the half of a whole when you’re a whole, sometimes repairing a half.

Women have tolerated being told what to do and how to do it, what to wear and how to look far too long.

My makeup is the last straw of you telling me what to do. You did it with my hair. My "put a smile on your face, its pretty" compliment. You tried it with my skirt, my piercings. You will not go for my highlight or lip color. I refuse.

We've been concealed in this idea that women must conform to society's view of perfection. Sometimes, I try to tell myself that I am creating an image apart from what I think society would want from me, but I have given up. So no, I don't wear makeup to look prettier, I just do and I happen to look prettier or just as pretty.

I don't highlight because everybody else does. I highlight because it's truly poppin'. There's this embrace that comes with knowing how astonishing your highlight is. There is also this highlight discourse that brings women into embrace together. It is something to acknowledge.

And, I don't have to ask permission to "go natural" or do the big chop. I found out later, I should've asked my mother because she wasn't having it, at all.

And when I say I can't leave my house without lashes or mascara, it's because I can't leave the house without lashes or mascara. I, personally, would rather not--so understand it's not because I hate myself so much, I hide behind the lashes. But, the mascara shapes my eyes and I just like this look it makes them give.

When we begin to think of makeup as art and ourselves as Picasso, then the argument of why women wear makeup is irrelevant.

I think of makeup as art, hence the Picasso reference. A cover up over a bomb bathing suit. It doesn't hide my insecurity, atleast not all the time. It just gives me this aesthetic view of being part of life.

Once I learn to perfectly structure my eyes with eyeshadow then I'll be a legend. But for now, I'm waiting for a setting spray that truly lasts 24 hours.