Why I Don't Wear Makeup
People who know me probably will not even believe this for a second but it's true- I have stopped wearing makeup. And by makeup, I mean foundation. I have always been self conscious about my skin. It's always been incredibly oily so I spent my younger years piling on foundation and reapplying powder every 8-10 minutes throughout the day (I wish that was an exaggeration). Then at around 22 I was hit suddenly with acne and my face was ravaged. Of course my instinct was to cover it up even more. There were days where it looked OK with no active breakouts but there were scars from spots passed and I just could not bear to be seen without every inch covered and corrected. I mean, even if I went sunbathing I'd still have on a layer of foundation and would just struggle through with it melting and sweating off in patches.
However, on my recent holiday to the Caribbean I went a full 12 days with no makeup whatsoever during the day...and it felt OK. In fact, by the end of the holiday my skin was looking great. I don't at all believe that makeup makes your skin worse (unless you have a reaction to something of course) but I do think that going without makeup can do it some good too. And what's more, it made me feel good. I was bare faced in front of other humans and no one threw up or recoiled. I started to realise that I actually look... alright. And I stuck to it.
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I'm back in Malta now and have been going makeup free every day since. But let me clarify, I still fill in my eyebrows where they are sparse and wear mascara. I still pop a little bit of translucent powder on my face when it gets shiny, but it's not providing any coverage. It saves me about half an hour of dicking around with primer, foundation, application, bronzer, blush, liner, smudging, removing and redoing each morning and even without all this extra help and camouflage, I somehow feel a lot more confident. I still get spots, I still have huge open pores and oily skin. But I don't really care. I don't think I look perfect, but I've made peace with how I do look and I think that's amazing. For someone who has battled with issues with their skin and fought plenty of appearance related demons, this is a pretty big deal.
I can go to the pool and just enjoy the day, throwing on suncream when it's needed and not worrying if I look shiny or if my makeup has melted all over my face. It's 30+ degrees, YES I look a hot mess but I'll be damned if I care! If I go out in the evening, I might wear a thin layer of foundation or get any spots in check with some concealer and ya know what? That's fine too! If anything it's made me enjoy putting my face on again. I'm a makeup LOVER and I adore trying out new looks but when you wear it day and night without a day off, some of the fun does wear off and it becomes something you have to do and can't feel yourself without. Now I feel great without it and great with it too.
Something that really surprised me is that hardly anyone even noticed. In fact, I found myself receiving compliments even more than ever. One lovely lady telling me I have beautiful eyes (maybe less liner and foundation drawing the attention away was a good thing!) and my colleague and friend remarking on my lovely freckles and demanding I don't cover them up.
This doens't mean I think everyone should stop wearing makeup on a daily basis and it doesn't mean I wont go back to doing that ever again. This is just me and it's something I never thought I'd be comfortable enough to do, but here I am doing it right now and I'm so happy about it. I'm still going to do myself up for a night out, we all like to look a bit extra special when we're out for drinks and fun but I don't need to do it anymore and that's pretty damn huge.