There were so many times as a little girl that I would get into my mothers makeup box and try to put the different products on my face. Of course, I never really knew what I was doing, but a little girl can try, can’t she?

Dad never liked this, but then again, I was the youngest of three and the only girl, so he never liked anything that involved his baby girl growing up. Shocker there, right? It never became a serious issue until around seventh grade though. I was the biggest tomboy and never worried about anything girly until I made new friends at school who all wore make up.

It started off with taking my moms old eyeliner and mascara I knew she never used. I would put this on when I got onto the bus in the morning and take it off either on the way home or as soon as I would walk through before I would see my parents. They caught on to this pretty quick and weren’t too happy. Raising boys, they never had to deal with this sort of thing before and I explained that everyone at school wore it and that I was becoming a woman. So they let me wear the bare minimum and all was great.

In high school I barely wore any makeup unless it was a special day and I needed to look really good. The mornings were too early for me, I wasn’t trying to impress anyone, and I had cheerleading practice almost everyday after school so it was almost pointless to put it on in the first place.

My love affair with makeup didn’t start until the middle of my junior year of college. One of my best friends and practically my older sister who is a makeup goddess used to always do my face up when I would come home on the weekends. She made me feel so beautiful but it would take us double the time to get ready when we would go out. Finally, one day over Christmas break, I got fed up and made her go to Sephora with me to pick out everything I would need to get started.

Two hundred fifty dollars and a nice haul later, I was ready to learn how to actually apply these foreign products. We stayed up late and she walked me through the steps of contouring, doing a simple eye shadow, eyebrows, and the rest of the face. In the words of Queen B herself, I felt “Flawless”.

It took me a long time to actually get the hang of it but as with anything else, practice makes perfect. There is always room to improve my skills but for now I think I have achieved the look I have always wanted and finally feel like ME. Once you know who you are on the inside and are confident in that person, that’s when you should focus on the outside look. I have never been happier.

Over the past couple years I have learned the power makeup has. I don’t and have never believed that a woman that wears a face full of makeup makes her “fake” or assumed to be “hiding something on the inside”. Makeup has the power to enhance the best parts of the facial structure, not let them hide and get left behind. It has the power to let me express myself depending on my emotions. It shows my artistic side because a naked face to me is a blank canvas waiting to come to life. And it shows I have patience and commitment because to do makeup correctly it takes time and technique.

I am by no means at the level of a professional make up artist and probably never will be, but I know what this secret weapon can do for a woman. I highly encourage anyone that compliments me on my makeup to do what I did and give it a go.

You might just surprise yourself.