IT'S NOT A MASK!!

I missed Friday night blog night because I was finishing off my International Wildlife Law Seminar reading which seems to be never ending. Anyway, recent encounters have inspired tonight’s blog post.

If you’ve read my blog before, you’ll know that I’ve experienced issues with bullying. Once that stopped, I still maintained a slight feeling of hate towards my appearance and it wasn’t until my second year at university that I can truly say I fell in love with myself again. I’ve learnt to love my flaws because they make me unique. I still have some insecurities and I don’t for one second think I’m perfect, that’s an unrealistic opinion of anyone, perfection is an unattainable concept.

Like most girls these days, I watch make up tutorials on Youtube, learning about make up, what works and what doesn’t. I started experimenting and now, I know how to contour, strobe and bake my face and I take pride in the fact that I use one of these techniques every single day to apply make up. For me, this is a huge change because throughout my first year of university, the only make up I wore was BB cream and sometimes eyeliner on nights out. The first lipstick I purchased was in my first year at University and has been my signature red lipstick ever since. At that point in my life, I didn’t feel like I wanted to wear make up, I wasn’t one to sit in front of the mirror for hours. I was definitely more in love with my hair at that point so I would spent hours trying to braid my hair or watching youtube tutorials to find hairstyles for weddings.

My change in attitude towards make up was fuelled by the end of my relationship with the person I thought was the love of my life because that moment in my life signified the start of my relationship with myself. After the break up, one of my nearest and dearest friends said to me ‘Go home, sit in your room for hours and put make up on, mess around with your eyeliner and make yourself feel good!’ That was possibly one of the greatest pieces of advice I have ever got. I did go home and do that, and that pushed me to where I am today.

A couple of days ago, I was having a conversation with a friend about all the expensive make up products I want like the Anastasia Beverly Hills highlight and contour kit, the artis brush sets, the Kylie Lip Kit and Louboutin lipstick. She didn’t seem to understand why I wanted all of these things and that is fair enough because it was just a few years ago that I told her I didn’t understand why she always wore make up, even in the evening after a shower. To me, make up is an art. Anyone who knows how to contour, how to strobe or how to bake, has mastered an art and just like a conventional artist, its not just any product that will get the result you want.

As I scrolled through instagram, I showed my friend videos of people contouring and her response was ‘I don’t like that amount of make up, its as though they’re putting on a mask.’ First and foremost, the comment cut deep because I couldn’t help but think that was what she thought when I wore the amount of make up I do. Secondly, I did not, for one second, agree with what she was saying. You see, I don’t use make up as a mask, I’m comfortable in my own skin. I will leave my house with not an ounce of make up on, I just enjoy it. I enjoy taking 45 minutes out of my morning to contour my face. I enjoy waiting 10 minutes for my make up to set when I’m baking my face, I enjoy the result of a sparkling face when I’ve finished strobing. I also know it looks good, but that doesn’t mean that I put on make up to mask my bare face because I don’t like the way I look without make up. I’ll happily post a ‘no make up selfie’ and let the world see what I look like with make up. I don’t care what people think of my bareface because I love it, it is ME!

My 'No make up selfie' 

The point I’m really trying to get across here is that we should not judge others on our own views and standards. In fact, we shouldn’t judge people at all. I hate it when people comment on other people’s appearance or features. I won’t be a hypocrite and say I’ve never done this before because I definitely have however, I make the conscious decision not to do it. I don’t care what people look like, I don’t care if people don’t contour everyday. I think what annoyed me the most is that when my friend said the contouring was like a ‘mask’ I couldn’t help but think about the fact that she never leaves the house without make up. To quote her exactly ‘I only put make up on when I know I’m going to be leaving the house.’ Is that not putting on a mask for the world to see? I personally wear make up even if I’m not leaving the house. There have been many occasions when my parents have asked me where I am going simply because I have a full face of make up on.

Most days I do the full contour + baking 

Some days I do softer make up, no baking, just contour and highlight 

The moral of my blog (sorry I feel like it’s been a long rant) is that, when you see someone will a full face of make up, contour and all, don’t automatically assume they hate their natural look because more often than not, that is not the case. A lot of times, these people love their face and that is why they love to wear make up!! They’re enhancing their features and whether you like it or not or think its too much make up, they will continue to do it! If they love it, why should you care? Make up enhances, it is not used as a mask by everyone. Stop jumping to conclusions and judging people against what you do/don’t do.

All love xoxo