Wouldn't it be amazing to go back in time and remember how it felt to live as a child. Unaware of insecurity, body image, make up. To judge people on personality rather than looks and be able to wake up in a morning and go to bed at night without worrying about what the future held.
As you can probably tell from the picture above, I have always had a slight obsession with perfecting my appearance. I used to lick red smarties and use them to 'paint my lips' like lipstick, I was obsessed with using spray in glitter hair dye and loved applying, peeling and reapplying peel off nail varnish. I actually remember the day I bought my first ever 'proper' bit of makeup. I remember how happy and grown up I felt, and I loved it. To this day I still do love the confidence that make up, hair dye and clothes give me. It is almost like you can hide yourself behind this perfectly made up mask, you can project yourself to others in a certain way, fake confidence and most importantly I could hide (what I once thought were) my flaws.
So when I woke up on New Years day and enjoyed a lazy make-up free dressing gown day, I decided to set myself a challenge. If I could feel comfortable at home with my boyfriend completely bare faced, then why shouldn't I be able to do the same in public? Would the world seriously stop turning if God forbid I left the house without make up on? Funnily enough, it wasn't really other people's perceptions of me that I was concerned about- I knew the challenge would push my self confidence (or lack of) to its limit, but it was a challenge I was not willing to fail.
After the initial three weeks, I started reintroducing make-up into my daily routine, but in much smaller quantities, and now six weeks down the line I am happy to say that I am still pretty much going sans-makeup a large amount of the time.
I learnt a few surprising things by ditching the make up. I excepted to feel exposed, inferior, ugly. This couldn't have been further from the truth... by going bare faced, I developed a new found self confidence. Along with realising trivial things like my skin isn't all that bad, I also had a few more deep routed revelations.
I learnt that there is no such thing as a flaw. You are the only you, there is no perfect prototype to compare yourself to. How you are is how you were made and it is how you were meant to be. Confidence does not come from make up, it comes from yourself. Don't get me wrong I am still completely 'pro make up', and beauty will always be an absolute passion of mine. But I will no longer use makeup as a mask to hide behind. I will use make up for no one but myself. As pretty or beautiful as make up can make you feel, self confidence is the most attractive quality a person can have.
So when I woke up on New Years day and enjoyed a lazy make-up free dressing gown day, I decided to set myself a challenge. If I could feel comfortable at home with my boyfriend completely bare faced, then why shouldn't I be able to do the same in public? Would the world seriously stop turning if God forbid I left the house without make up on? Funnily enough, it wasn't really other people's perceptions of me that I was concerned about- I knew the challenge would push my self confidence (or lack of) to its limit, but it was a challenge I was not willing to fail.
After the initial three weeks, I started reintroducing make-up into my daily routine, but in much smaller quantities, and now six weeks down the line I am happy to say that I am still pretty much going sans-makeup a large amount of the time.
I learnt a few surprising things by ditching the make up. I excepted to feel exposed, inferior, ugly. This couldn't have been further from the truth... by going bare faced, I developed a new found self confidence. Along with realising trivial things like my skin isn't all that bad, I also had a few more deep routed revelations.
I learnt that there is no such thing as a flaw. You are the only you, there is no perfect prototype to compare yourself to. How you are is how you were made and it is how you were meant to be. Confidence does not come from make up, it comes from yourself. Don't get me wrong I am still completely 'pro make up', and beauty will always be an absolute passion of mine. But I will no longer use makeup as a mask to hide behind. I will use make up for no one but myself. As pretty or beautiful as make up can make you feel, self confidence is the most attractive quality a person can have.