Those of you that know me, it's no secret that I like makeup.

Nothing gets me more excited than purchasing a new lipstick, nothing in life fills me with more joy than a perfectly executed smoky eye. Learning about and playing with makeup is one of my favorite things in the world.

For some reason, my love of makeup causes others to think I'm vain, or self conscious, or worst of all, unintelligent. Now the vain thing, I sort of understand. I take up to an hour focused on my face, highlighting my best features and learning how to create beautiful images on my own face. Basically, I "waste my time" looking at my face. I view this differently. I take my time, learn each contour and blemish on my face, take the face I was given, and create art with it. I take time out of my day to simply be with me, and sure, that may be selfish, there isn't anything wrong with paying attention to yourself and doing something you love.

As far as being self conscious- while I can't speak for everyone- I feel the exact opposite. Learning my face has made me far more confident and open in all aspects of my life. Sure, putting on makeup in itself can make me more confident, but just knowing that I was given a blank canvas to create pictures on makes me much more confident with my naked face. I can proudly say I like the face I was born with, and that's partially thanks to makeup. (For the record, this is my face without makeup)

Let's say it for the people in the back: FEMININITY DOES NOT EQUATE TO STUPIDITY.

As far as being unintelligent, this one is downright insulting. Personally, I have always excelled in my academics, whether I was wearing lipstick or not. Lucille Ball, one of the smartest business women to ever grace the earth was never seen without her penciled in eyebrows and stunning glossy lips. Traditional femininity and intelligence are not incongruous. Women (or men) applying makeup has no reflection on their worth or their intellectual capabilities.

People take makeup way too seriously. The fact that I love and collect makeup doesn't say anything about who I am as a person, other than the fact that I'm a makeup addict. It's not a political statement, it isn't antifeminist, it isn't anything other than pigment on my face. Whether you wear it or not, makeup is just for fun and at the end of the day it all washes away.