I can guarantee you that every girl has played with her mother's makeup at some point in her life. And for me, that little girl grew up to become obsessed with the newest mascaras and eye shadow palettes. I love makeup not because it "hides" my imperfections, but because it gives me confidence.

I didn't always love makeup. In fact, I didn't even start wearing it until the end of my 8th-grade year (shout out to my blue eyeliner). It wasn't until my junior year of high school that I really started to pay attention to the brands I was using. I slowly started to watch YouTube tutorials on makeup looks and it just went uphill from there. From foundations to eye shadow to bronzer, I was obsessed. Almost every weekend I would take my time getting ready, simply because I wanted to use every product I owned in some way. And for a while it was trial and error in what worked and what didn't. Thankfully, not too many pictures were taken to remember the dud days.

But I didn't understand that with all these new found products to play around with, that it would come with a price. I didn't anticipate many of the side remarks like "You shouldn't be wearing that much makeup." or "So, who are you trying to impress?" At first, I didn't give these remarks a second thought, but as I noticed it more and more I started to question myself. I would think "Maybe I need to take it a notch down." or "I need to look more natural today." It started to dictate my everyday routine and that is not okay.

Eventually, I realized that I can't make everyone happy. If it's not my makeup, it's my clothes. So why not make the only person who really counts happy—me. Flash forward to today and you can ask anyone who's seen my room that I am obsessed with makeup and proud of it. Most of my homework desk is dedicated to my makeup, brushes, mirrors, etc. I love makeup because it's something I pride myself in. The possibilities are endless and leaving my apartment knowing my eyeliner is on point gives me the confidence I need to start my day.