As a woman, we are constantly told what we should and should not be doing in order to gain acceptance from our family, friends, coworkers, employers, men, and even ourselves. We are bombarded with words and notions of "empowerment," and are constantly told if we adhere to a certain standard that we will become an ideal woman... whatever that may be. The beauty industry is a multi-billion dollar industry whose intent is to make us feel as though we are unacceptable as we are, telling us to buy creams, mascaras, perfumes, clothes that we supposedly need, and just as there are corporations who tell us that we need to buy things to make ourselves worthy, there are also plenty of people who INSIST we do not need anything, and that if we buy into the beauty industry, that we are fake and ingenuine. No matter which side you're on, or even if you fall somewhere in the middle, someone will always feel inclined to tell you that you're wrong.

In recent news, Alicia Keys has gained a lot of popularity for partaking in a photo shoot where she was barefaced, dawning a post-workout-glow, and let me be the first to tell you (if you haven't seen these photos already,) she looks gorgeous, like, seriously. She noted, when discussing this photo shoot, that she was apprehensive to take such raw photographs, but as the shoot progressed, her confidence continued to develop. Since this photo shoot, Keys has decided to begin a #nomakeup movement and is encouraging women to join her in ditching their beauty regimes. While she means well and has her heart in the right place, this movement only wedges a larger gap between women, and how we are perceived.

If you feel confident barefaced, and that's what allows you to be your most genuine you, then please I beg of you, drop that mascara wand right this instant, never step foot into Sephora again, and color yourself happy. If beating your face to the makeup goddesses by fleeking your brows and contouring and highlighting every inch of your face gives you confidence, then go ahead girl, slay. Do whatever it takes to make you feel happy, confident, and sexy. Seriously. Do it. Right now. But the one thing I ask of you is to please, never put down another woman for doing what she feels necessary to make herself feel beautiful; it just isn't your call.

As women, we need to stop disparaging other women for being themselves. If you don't like people who tell you to ease up on your eyeliner, the most hypocritical thing you can do is critique women who don't even wax their eyebrows, and vice versa. It's insulting, inappropriate, and just frankly unnecessary. Besides, your beauty is not defined by your outward appearance, but by who you are on the inside. Your beautiful soul will radiate outwards, and people will take notice by how you carry yourself.

Shel Silverstein said it best, "If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

Do you boo boo; stop worrying about everyone else