You can find this freakin’ sweet shirt HERE.
Hey yall hey! Long time no talk. I have another post planned to talk about where I’ve been and why I’m back in the game now but today I wanted to talk about the restorative power of not wearing makeup. I know we are in the midst of a makeup empowerment movement, if it can be called that. And I am all for people doing what they damn well please with their face and body. Cake it on baby! But for me, I needed a break.
I love makeup. Yall know I love makeup. But a few weeks ago it all became too much. I was dealth a punch to the face from my allergies. It’s not the cutest thing but for full disclosure I must tell yall that when I get sick I turn into a complete booger monster. Some people cough, some people get congested, I turn into a non-stop leaky faucet of snotty nastiness. Thus began my break from makeup. There was simply nothing I could do to hide my poor little red nose so why bother. I felt like I’d be wasting makeup if it all wiped off onto a boogie tissue in an hours time, so I went makeup free for the week. I will note though that I kept the Paula’s Choice Skin Recovery Hydrating Treatment Mask with me the entire time I was sick to keep my nose moisturized since I was putting it through so much abuse. My nose didn’t peel or get patchy at all, which is a small miracle considering I was blowing it like every 5 minutes. That shits gold.
There’s no doubt that getting through my morning routine more quickly and out the door faster was an amazing feeling. Getting down to a one step face washing process at night was awesome too.
After a week of naked face, I was ready to get back into my routine but started off slow. Just concealer and mascara for my first day back at it. The next day Austin and I received pretty terrible news about one of our friends being injured really badly in an accident. I was still a bit sick which I was oddly happy about now. News of our friend along with news a family member would be passing soon after a long battle with cancer really had me on the edge, just waiting for a breeze to push me over. Hiding behind “being sick”, I went another week makeup free, knowing I was going to crack at some point. And I did. Thursday, I felt all of these horrible realities hit me at once and I just burst into tears. I sat in my bosses office (he was out at a meeting), in the dark and quietly cried for 10 minutes or so.
It’s now just over two weeks later and I’m still not back to wearing makeup. Everything is still pretty fresh. Our friend is doing a bit better now, our family member has passed away, and if the bad news could take a break for a while that would be fabulous.
I was looking in the mirror earlier this evening and was struck with how much I looked and felt like myself. It’s only human to pick apart all of our flaws and magnify our own imperfections, but this time I just noticed me. Smooth skin but a bit of redness. Blackhead covered nose. Blue eyes tucked behind thick rimmed glasse. Only slightly chapped lips
Makeup is fun and can perk up our confidence but its also important to value the face under all the product. There’s a person under there. What’s magic about going makeup free is that you remember the makeup isn’t what’s beautiful at all. The person underneath all the makeup is the keeper of the beauty.
Your skin in beautiful. Your eyes are beautiful. Your lips are beautiful. Your humanity is beautiful. Your fragility is beautiful. You’re simple beautiful.
I’ll get back to wearing makeup again I’m sure, but for now I’m enjoying the freedom from a self imposed stressor. Life’s too short to check under my eyes for caked up concealer or to make sure my lipstick isn’t bleeding. I give so much power to these things that don’t matter in day to day life that when tragedity strikes I feel silly for even caring at all. I’m not here to appease others aestetically. I’m just here to experience and that’s pretty magic.
