Every girl wants to feel pretty, beautiful, or confident. Though, society is making that more and more difficult each day.

Being physically appealing is a “must have” according to our society. I think our society is hysterical.

Being physically attractive is often achieved by makeup. Many women I know can pull this off so well and they are doing great!

But if I’m being honest, I don’t want to walk around in my everyday life looking like this:

Don’t get me wrong –there are times when makeup is “necessary." For instance, makeup is necessary at weddings, proms, and any theatrical performance. You want to have eyes and lips in your wedding pictures, trust me.

However, I don’t feel pretty when I look like that.

I don’t feel beautiful or confident.

I feel like a drowned rat, a melting popsicle.

I feel like a forged canvas wearing someone else’s face.

I do not feel like me.

It’s already difficult for girls (and women too) to find themselves, and we shouldn’t have to bury ourselves in makeup to make the search difficult more difficult than it already is.

Being able to look in the mirror and love yourself is something that many women cannot do, thanks to society’s standards. But, I encourage women everywhere to work off the makeup.

You are stronger than the advertisements on the T.V. calling out your wrinkles. You are so much more than the employees at Sephora or Ulta telling you that your lips are too big. You are worth more than the bills big corporations get when you purchase makeup.

Just to clarify: I’m not saying to give up on taking care of your looks completely. You should still pluck your eyebrows and moisturize your skin.

But you don’t have to put on makeup to live your life.

You don’t need the eyeliner and mascara to run errands.

You don’t need to wear lipstick for your significant other to say you look beautiful.

All you need is you.

So take a pickaxe and break off that caked concealer. Break out of that coated shell of foundation. Wipe off your eyeshadow and eyeliner.

Wash your face. Moisturize it. Do a cool face mask. Put on some lip balm.

Take care of your body –don’t hide it!

Soon enough, your makeup will come off. Little by little, day by day, one step of the makeup routine can be cut until it’s just you.

Raw, natural you. The best you.

The seasons may fight you on this change –oil and sweat in the heat, dry and bitter days in the cold. But if taken care of properly, you shouldn’t be afraid of the body you live in.

When I was younger, I dreamed of having this luxurious bureau with a fancy three-panel mirror and palettes of makeup for miles. I imagined myself perfecting my eyeliner technique and learning how to contour my face to make it something it clearly wasn’t.

And when I was finally old enough to learn the skills, I didn’t want it. The first time I wore makeup, I said, “I can’t see myself.”

That was the only sign I needed to say no to makeup, to society’s beauty standards, to say no to being fake.

To the girl who is in love with makeup…

To the girl who has an on-again-off-again relationship with makeup…

To the girl who can’t even get herself to walk into a Sephora store…

Regardless of what the world tells you, you’re still killin’ it.