Every year, my family participates in Lent. The season of lent is about giving something up for forty days until Easter. It is supposed to be the time where you give something up in order to further your faith or realize what has been given up for you. Here’s the point- I gave up my normal beauty routine for forty days in order to replace it with something more productive. I went from spending an hour making sure my foundation, highlight, contour, eyeliner, mascara, and eyebrows looked perfect to putting on some mascara and chapstick before leaving the house. At first, I layered the mascara on thick and went with a tinted chapstick in hopes to cover the flaws I thought I had. I felt naked. When it came to having to leave the house to go out in public, especially going to school, I prepared myself for comments and backlash about my skin and my lack of makeup. I was prepared for all of the remarks about how tired I looked and the questions of whether or not I was sick.

But that’s not what happened.

Nobody even noticed. If they did, they said nothing. And at the end of the day, I realized that my lack of makeup did not stop my world from turning. It caused no shift in anybody's day except my own. There were no whispers about the change, no comments about me being tired, nothing at all. Because it was all in my head. I was so worried about what others would see that I did not even think about what I was seeing or doing or what was happening around me. I almost didn't even see that I was being consumed by anxiety over what other people were thinking.

By the end of the 40 days, I hardly considered the fact that I didn’t have makeup on. The layers of mascara went to one coat and the tinted chapstick turned into Vaseline for moisturizing. I was well rested because I could sleep longer, my body felt better because I had stopped skipping breakfast due to lack of time, and my skin was clear and glowing from the lack of chemicals.

I had learned to be comfortable with how I look and stopped being self-conscious about having no makeup on. I fell in love with my natural look and learned to appreciate my beauty, which may sound conceited, but it is true. I am convinced it was the best thing for my self-love and confidence and would encourage anybody to try it.

And despite this, I went back to a little bit of a longer beauty routine when lent ended. Simply because I think that makeup is fun and is a great form of self-expression. You can catch me on the daily with a glowing highlight and sharp contour because I love it. Just because I had put it on the shelf for a while did not mean I stopped appreciating the self-expression in makeup. I began to think that maybe the women in makeup commercials were beautiful because they were confident and happy, not just because of the product on their face. It opened my eyes to a whole new side of self-love. One where I did my makeup because I loved it, instead of loving myself because of the makeup I hid behind.

Forty days without my beauty routine taught me to love myself and appreciate the art of makeup.

With all of this being said- I encourage, scratch that- I challenge you, to learn to embrace your inner beauty! Participate in "no makeup Monday," or go without for a week. I promise you, it's worth it in the end.

No matter how long you choose to participate, take the time you would normally spend on your makeup or morning beauty routine and use it for something productive, like eating breakfast, doing some morning reading, or catching those extra zzz's! Use the hashtag #mydaywithout on your social media to share with me, and with other people, what changing your routine has done for you. I wanna hear your stories!

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