I did the unthinkable: I didn't wear makeup for an entire week. Crazy, I know. But for me, this was a pretty big deal.

Now, I don't usually wear a lot of makeup to begin with. I settle for a gently tinted moisturizer, filled-in brows, mascara-plumped eyelashes and perfectly fleeked eyeliner, always. On special occasions, I'll care enough to cover up the designer bags under my eyes or the acne scars that I try to pull off as freckles with the right amount of concealer. It may not sound like much (or maybe it sounds like a lot...I'm not sure how much makeup everyone else wears), but I do know that my little beauty routine is just enough to make me feel fine, fresh and fierce every day.

As I was washing the residual foundation off my hands last week, I couldn't shake my Nonna's words from the back of my head.

"The more makeup you wear now, the more you'll need when you're older," she would say as she watched my beauty ritual unfold. Truthfully, I brushed off her words because I was sure she just didn't like the way I did my eyeliner. But as I reached for the concealer I saw in an advertisement to hide crow's feet...I decided that it was time for a detox. I was going to go makeup-free for an entire week.

The first day was terrifying, I'm not going to lie. I spent most of the day under a baseball hat. I figured the less visible my face was, the better. I avoided going outside at all costs because I didn't want to blind anyone with my porcelain pale skin. It's safe to say that the only reason day one was successful is because I discovered "Lost" on Netflix so leaving my house was practically a sin.

But when I woke up the next morning, I had an intense realization: what did I spend all day hiding from? Why was I so against leaving my house? Was I really going to spend the entire week hiding my face because I was afraid of what someone might say? I made sure the rest of the week was going to be different.

I bucked up and set out to do errands that I've been putting off for weeks. Armed with only the moisturizer I slathered on that morning, I was going to attack the day with my starch-white face and puffy eyelids.

But here's the crazy thing: no one said anything to me.

Wild, I know. No one commented on the black holes underneath my eyes or the Bermuda Triangle of acne scars on my left cheek. The cashier at Target didn't treat me any differently. The man at the car wash smiled as I tried to explain why there was so much bird poop on my windshield. The manicurist at my nail salon told me that my eyes were brighter than usual. But above all, my dog still wanted to go out on a walk with me.

After five more days of letting my makeup collect dust on my vanity, I've realized something important: no one gives a crap if you wear makeup or not. The world will not stop turning if you don't wing your eyeliner. Life will continue to move on if you don't put on that BB Cream before you leave the house.

At the end of the week, the redness on my eyelids disappeared and the bags under my eyes have lifted. My acne scars freckles have faded just when I've begun to embrace them. I've no longer felt the need to cover up the parts of me that society has deemed as imperfections.

Beauty is internal and happiness is eternal. I've learned that makeup is meant to be a confidence booster, not a confidence reducer.