The world of beauty is a wonderful, magical rabbit hole that can all too easily consume your time, data plan and -- especially -- money. My personal favorite subset of the beauty realm is makeup. There are many, many makeup lovers, and, thusly, also many makeup haters. Makeup haters usually follow a pattern with their various arguments. As a wearer and lover of makeup, these are some of the myriad comments that I frequently get from other people -- both makeup wearers and non-makeup wearers alike.

1. "Girls only wear makeup for boys."

I was most interested in addressing this comment first, because it is the most preposterous to me. Firstly, no. Secondly, still no. Those who wear makeup do it because they enjoy it and it makes them feel good. I'm not saying that, in all the instances in which I've worn makeup, I've never thought to myself that I hoped my crush noticed how good I looked that day; however, this is not the same thing as wearing makeup for another person. Allow me to reiterate, you aren't wearing makeup for another person if you are simultaneously recognizing that you think you look awesome. And, I mean, isn't that the whole point? Dress your face until it makes you the most satisfied and fierce-feeling? Besides, there's no time for boys in my makeup routine. I'm clearly more concerned about getting my glow on -- thank you, highlight.

2. "You wear too much makeup."

Well, I guess that's for me to decide, and you not to give your unsolicited opinion about. "Too much" is completely relative, and the amount of makeup someone wears usually changes from day to day anyway. There's no such thing as too much as long as the wearer is feeling their best.

3. "You look better without makeup."

Maybe to you, but I think I look equally great both ways. It's important to acknowledge that makeup isn't about covering up or drastically changing the way you look -- not on a day-to-day basis anyway. Costume or SFX makeup can achieve this, but that's a whole different ball game. For me, and for many other people that I know, makeup helps me emphasize or dramatize or accentuate or reduce or any number of things other than just hide my features. My eyeliner, though it may fight me, can't possibly look that bad today that you think I would just look better without it.

4. "You spend too much money on makeup."

This one is just plain none of anyone else's business.

5. "If you wear so much makeup, you must have self-esteem issues."

It is ludicrous to assume a correlation between an action that can do something as important as giving individuals the capacity to feel really great about themselves and something as personal as self-esteem. In fact, I firmly believe in the opposite of this assertion. Makeup allows individuals to acknowledge their own beauty through expression and choice, and that, I think, is a really beautiful thing.