When I was in middle school, I had my face caked with makeup, that my mother was just allowing me to experiment with. I spent most of my free time watching tutorials on YouTube, trying to become a professional. I learned what order to put each product on for the best results. What started as a fun thing to do sometimes in the morning quickly transitioned into a crutch and I was convinced I could not leave the house without make up. I hated looking at myself in the mirror without makeup on. Once I began to realize this was not okay, I began my makeup free journey and now I only wear it for special events.
If you’re interested in joining me on this journey, here are a few tips that should definitely help:
Take Care of Your Body
One of the biggest reasons I felt compelled to wear makeup was that my skin was not the glowing skin you see on the internet. I slowly began a better skin care routine that involved toners, moisturizers, and not touching my face throughout the day. I also started drinking more water in order to help clear up my skin. Over time my skin started to look better, and I became more comfortable knowing that I had healthy skin and not just the appearance of healthy-looking skin from makeup.
You Will Adjust
When you are applying make up everyday you become used to that being how you look when you look in the mirror so it makes sense that when you do not wear makeup you do not look like yourself. Whereas just by spending a week or two away from makeup you will adjust to that being how you look. Then you can learn what your body needs, such as, when you have dark circles under your eyes you may need more sleep, whereas if you always just covered them up you may not notice them. If you have puffy eyes you can just rub some ice cubes under them to help. These little tricks are to enhance your natural look. My best friend gets upset with me because when I get ready for a date instead of doing my make up, I take a nap and then curl my eye lashes. I confidently can rock the natural look.
You Begin to Appreciate Make Up More
One of the benefits of giving up make up is learning to love makeup more. When you go long periods of time without wearing makeup, when you start to apply it you begin to realize how true it is that less is more. Make up is meant to enhance your beauty and to not mask it. Many times, when I apply makeup, I plan on putting on a whole face and quickly stop after applying a tinted primer and some mascara because I feel like that is enough to make me look, “done-up.”
This article is not meant to convince you that a makeup free lifestyle is better but just to show that a person should not feel compelled to wear make up to feel beautiful. Everybody is beautiful in their own way and should embrace that beauty.