As a girl, I’ve been obsessed with makeup ever since I was in elementary school. I loved the effects makeup could pull off and thought it was truly mesmerizing to see people transform themselves with just an hour and some blending. I started wearing makeup in middle school, but not very well I may add. I made the obvious mistakes that every girl makes when they first start playing around with makeup. Like not blending eyeshadow, wearing too much or too little eyeliner, and even wearing the completely wrong shade of foundation. Boy was that embarrassing when someone walked up to me and said, “Um, I think that shade of foundation is a little too dark for you…”

Throughout the years I watched countless makeup tutorials online and started building my collection up with nicer brands. I practiced all of my favorite looks and thanks to my favorite beauty gurus on YouTube, I’m now able to do a full face of makeup almost flawlessly. I love getting compliments on my makeup, especially when people tell me my eyebrows look good! But, even though it’s great to receive compliments from other people about my makeup, that isn’t why I go through the trouble of buying makeup, practicing, and applying. I do this all for me, and no one else.

There is a preconceived notion that all girls do their makeup to attract either boys or girls, but for me and many others, we wear makeup for ourselves. The generalization of this makes us look like all we care about is impressing other people and that we are basically fishing for compliments. I go through all of the work to make myself feel good. I couldn’t care less what other people think of my makeup, if I like it and I’m happy with it, then that’s all that really matters.

Due to the media and our society today, women and young girls are taught to hate themselves and their appearances at such an early age, and that we should wear revealing clothes, do our hair everyday, and wear makeup to seem more attractive to everyone around us. The whole idea of trying to impress someone with a passion of mine makes me sick. I buy expensive makeup for me, not for a potential boyfriend/girlfriend, but for me! In the past, I’ve had boyfriends who have preferred me with makeup, but when I go through the trouble of basically painting my face on, its because I want to feel good about myself. I want to look in the mirror and smile. I want to walk out of my house feeling confident, and that’s something I’ve always aimed for when it comes to makeup. I’ll never be the type of person to do my makeup a certain way just because someone wants me to. If I wanna wear pink eyeshadow, or purple lipstick, or extra bronzer, or skip my foundation, then I will do that.

Makeup to me is art, and art is all about expressing yourself, so why should that be any different with makeup? I’ve helped many friends over the years with teaching them all about makeup, and I always make sure to tell them that they should be learning and doing this for themselves, and for no one else. If you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend requesting you wear makeup, then do they really care about YOU? No, they care about what you look like in makeup. Don’t get me wrong, I love getting compliments after tons of hard work on my makeup, but I’ll never let that be the reason for me continuing with this passion. In life you have to do what makes you happy, don’t do something just to fit in, or to make yourself seem more desirable, because people who matter will like you for you, with or without makeup.