I had my first encounter when I was very young. I remember my mom applying a swipe of red lipstick to my lips and a tiny amount of mascara to my translucent eyelashes before my first dance recital. I would squirm and make it impossible for my mom to apply this stuff to my face, but somehow, when she was finished, I loved how it looked. I remember asking for my own lipstick for every birthday and Christmas after that and was thrilled when I received some LipSmackers. I loved applying the lip balms and playing with my pretend makeup. This was only the beginning of my love for makeup.
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In eighth grade, my mom finally let me buy my own brown mascara and blush. I was so excited! I would put the mascara on my top lashes only and put on blush until I looked like a clown. When I bought my first eyeshadow palette, I would put brown sparkly eyeshadow all over my eyelids until I was content. I thought I looked great (I didn't), but most of all, I loved playing with all my new products and experimenting with them.
In high school, I discovered the realm of the beauty gurus on YouTube. I was mesmerized! I saw so many girls like me who loved makeup and were really great at applying it. I learned how to make my makeup look better and what products I needed to achieve the look I wanted. I was so happy learning new techniques and about the best drugstore vs. high-end mascara. At first, when I wore these makeup looks to school, no one said anything except positive compliments. It wasn't until my junior and senior year when people started asking me why I was wearing makeup and who I was trying to impress. I was confused by these questions because, for me, makeup was something fun I did for myself in the morning. It was a skill I had grown to be good at, and now people were making fun of me for it.
Today, I still get comments like this. People ask me "You put makeup on for this?" or "Where are you going?" when I have even the slightest touch of makeup on. I think that in today's culture, there is a bias against women and makeup. Women are expected to look good, but makeup is seen as a mask for insecurity.
If a woman is wearing makeup, she is seen as "trying too hard" or "fake." If a woman is not wearing makeup, she is seen as "lazy" or "sick looking." There is rarely any in between. For me, and many other women out there, makeup is fun and a way of self-expression that can be seen by everyone. It's nice to set aside 10 minutes of "me time" in my day while I put on my makeup. It makes me feel better for the whole day! I'm not trying to put a mask on because I lack confidence. I just like makeup. Simple as that.
Women are afraid to wear makeup sometimes because of the judgment they might receive from others. I think that is stupid and women (or men!) should be able to wear makeup whenever they want, where ever they want because it makes them feel happy or confident or beautiful. Everyone deserves to feel happy and comfortable in their own skin, and if makeup provides that for someone, so be it.
