Perhaps a bit deep for a Tuesday morning but I was thinking last night about how I used to use and wear makeup. From that first lilac eyeshadow through to the morning of my wedding, I wanted makeup to turn me into some dramatic adaptation of myself. Infact, barely even myself… I wanted it to work miracles and turn me into a fairytale version of that reflection I saw in the mirror.
I vividly remember the excitement before my bridal makeup trial and being so hugely disappointed afterward that I’d agreed to pay some chick £70 to make me look like myself, but with lipgloss. Not that she was bad at her job, she was pretty good… but it was my first experience at letting someone else loose on my face and God only knows what I really expected or wanted from that poor makeup artist.
Nowadays, I’m pretty horrified if after applying my makeup I look like anything other than what I’d normally see in the mirror. Infact, I’d take it as a sure-fire sign that I’d well and truly overdone it!
I think it goes to show that my formative years were spent poring over too many before/after makeovers from between the pages of Just Seventeen magazine. Makeup can have a dramatic affect on your appearance… but I wonder what age I was when I realised that I didn’t want it to make me look like someone else anymore.
Or maybe… I’ve just settled for second best?
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Do you wear your makeup like a (beautifully applied) mask or just to dampen your flaws and accentuate your best bits?
I wear makeup like a (beautifully applied) mask, mostly on the weekends, because it’s fun and I love it, but I also wear it to dampen my flaws and accentuate my best bits, daily, for work. :o) Quite honestly, I’m too lazy to do a “full face” for work.
I wear make up mostly because it’s fun, although it is true that I wouldn’t leave the house without eyeliner, mascara and some sort of face coverage because I think I look much better with them. My eyes have no definition due to my short, thin, mousy colour eyelashes (I have medium brown hair, so why the mousy eyelashes???) and my skin’s not that great either. I’m not sure if doing a purple smoky eye on Tuesday morning makes me look better, but it’s certainly fun, and I don’t care if I look like I’m going to a party rather than school run. 🙂 As long as it’s done well, I’m happy to wear any colour, bright and bold as well as neutrals. I’m certainly not trying to look like someone else, and I know what you mean, I’m 35 and I’ve learned to accept my flaws.
I’m the same as you, really, I was so disappointed with how little I changed with makeup when I was younger, and now I’m a little alarmed whenever I’m too drastically made up. I think it’s natural to be pretty dissatisfied with how you look young and get more comfortable with age.
that said I’m the only person I know who’s mental image of themself is probably more attractive than they actually are. so seeing myself in the mirror is always a bit of a shock.
I think, on the whole, just to try to look more like myself but better – though there are some days when I feel like going slightly more ‘over the top’! My children let me know though – they tell me if I look overdone lol! Though I dared some blue eyeshadow last night, my daughter (16) told me it looked great, but I had to remove it – too many memories of my mum wearing lots of bright blue when it just wasn’t the colour to wear!!
I love the differentiation between day and night, party and work etc. I have an obsession about drastically ageing too young so I am all about the minimal in my day to day life. I like glowy, dewy skin but I am not flawless so I do have to place some kind of tinted moisturiser on and I could never live without mascara unless I have a truly superb tan! But when it comes down to it I really like looking a natural version of myself in my day to day life and I definitely have begun to feel more comfortable in my skin than I did say 4 years ago when I was 22. I think today and most days I look refreshed and sophisticated and by no means overdone. I also prefer to be more “me” during the day because otherwise where’s the fun in making that extra effort with your eye make-up etc for a night out. Although I have to say even then I do tend to finish and think “hmmm is this too much?!” One of the TOWIE girls I am not.
My make-up is mask like in that, without it I don’t feel I look like myself! Without it I have next to no eyebrows and eyelashes, no cheekbones and awful skin. However, if I can’t be bothered applying it one day, I’m more than happy to lounge around or go out without any on.
I definitely used to favour the beautifully applied mask but when I look back at those pictures all I can think is ‘whoa’! I think as I’ve gotten older ( I’m 36) I have gotten more comfortable in my skin and now just tried to hide the worst and play up the best. With two little girls ( 4.5 and 2) this generally translates into some flash balm, tinted moisturiser, mascara and some cream cheek/lip colour. And that’s on a good day- on a bad day I just brush my teeth and hope for the best! 😉
Also, for ‘me, I want my daughters to not feel that they need a mask to face the world. Homogeneity is not everything!
Celebrate your uniqueness you know?
I think I still use a mixture of the two.
Day to day and at work I will just cover any blemishes and line my eyes, but if I am going to an event or out for the night then I sometimes want to look like someone else.
It is amazing how much courage and self-confidence can be created from a flawless face and a smokey eye 🙂
I just go with bright colors and whateverI feel like. I don’t try to hide flaws or accentuate my best bits. I go FULL COLOR, the likes of which will never be found in nature.
It can really change from day to day. Sometimes I do a full transformation, sometimes I’d go with a “no-makeup” look, but all in all I’m pretty sure everyone would still recognize me without makeup on 🙂
i usually wear makeup to dampen my flaws. I wish i had more skills in actually applying it though! I feel sometimes as i wear the same look everyday!
I like that I can change how I look with makeup — it’s like wearing a costume or a mask and that is fun to me. I’ll sometimes go out w/o makeup and when I do, I have to put on the heavy-duty emotional armor b/c the comments will come, from friends and strangers alike, “Are you sick?” “Didn’t you get any sleep?” “Do you need to lie down” said with various amounts of concern and horror. And trust me, the comments come. Every time. Every. Time.
So it’s a blow to think my normal face, my real face is that hideous, that ppl think I’m ill (even strangers who have nothing to compare my natural face with). It hurts. I wish I could be a “natural beauty” but it’s not in the cards. Thankfully the Mr. thinks I look great either way.
I just conceal my worst flaws – very ruddy cheeks. My piggy eyes I can do nothing about because I am stupidly sensitive to eye-products. I love bright lippie though and crazy nails. I would look very theatrical if I didn’t have such ‘allergic’ eyes!
I wear make up to cover the bits (spots) I don’t want to see, and to enhance (brows) I want to make a feature of. I don’t mind my make up being noticeable, and love wearing bright lip colours and eyeliners, but I also still like to look exactly like myself. I also don’t want anyone to scream in horror when they see me without make up because I look so different.
Plus, I’m basically quite lazy and get bored after twenty minutes, max. So anything I can do in then from start to finish gets my vote.
Definitely myself but better. I absolutely hate it when I look like someone else would look at me and say “Nice makeup!”
I have medium to light blonde hair, so my lashes and eyebrows are invisible. I wear Benefits medium light pencil for my eyebrows and mascara (I have many and change daily for fun hehe) to bring them to life.
Also wear concealer and powder. Never wear foundation or eyeshadows because I’m a makeup noob hehe And I love blush and lipstick.
Now that I have developed eczema on my eyelids (a beauty junkie nightmare), I can only wear a bit of mascara. I guess this has forced me to not ‘mask’ my appearance, which in the end I guess is a good thing.
sometimes i do hate wearing makeup, depends on my mood … but it mostly is for fun. But I do have awful dark circles and discoloration on my lids … I’ve been trying to just do basic tinted moisturizer, concealer, eyeliner, and mascara …
I almost always wear a full face “mask” of makeup on the weekends. Usually we are going out and the lighting is horrible and washes me out, so I do more than I normally would for everyday. Honestly though, depending on the mood I’m in I will wear a dramatic look for everyday. I like the way it makes me look. My hubby is a photographer and when we shoot I always go back and look at my pictures and say “That doesn’t even look like me!” LOL I like that I can alter my image with makeup, it can be fun. I do go weeks on end without makeup too, but like I said it mainly depends on my mood.
I think I can definitely tell when I’m not feeling good about myself, because I trowel on the slap. Other times I’ll go out totally bare-faced and not give two hoots. The happy medium is something that just makes me look a bit more healthy and bright eyed. At the moment I have a kidney infection so I look like a tramp and my eyebrows are fighting to meet in the middle. It’s just as well I’m not well enough to leave the house 😉
I wanted to be someone else when I was younger and the funny thing was that being Asian NO ONE knew how to apply make up on me. I remember I had made an appointment for a makeover and got skipped over (well they said they overbooked) and did my friend who wasn’t Asian instead. Can I tell you how much that left a scar?
Anyway, yeah in my youth I wanted makeup to do its magic, nowadays, I want to see me in the mirror and not some lush! LOL
as a freelance makeup artist in NY. I wear makeup to make my beauty blossom even more…things we cant control sometimes hinders our natural beauty..like a sensitivity to a cleanser which can break us out and cause acne…or allergies which can make our eyes puffy…or gravity which can cause frown lines/crows feet, and more. Makeup can help to show you without all the outside radicals that may affect what you see…of course there is NOTHING wrong with what you see but its nice when you can make your beauty blossom even more!
I place on makeup very light (foundation/concealers/powders) just to even my skin tone from those acne scars/dark spts that are left over from my younger years when i didnt know any better and sometimes i experiment with colors on my eyelid but i am still me!
Makeup is an accessory you wouldnt change your personality because of a shirt, jacket or a pair of jeans right? so why do people think that a lipstick, eyeshadow or concealer will do the same…
what you are on the inside can never me “made up”…
I don’t tend to wear very much makeup but I’m addicted to it and my collection is ever-growing…I try to wear some on days I manage to wake up in time, I love the way a full mask of makeup looks but most days I’m too lazy to wear one…also my boyfriend hates when I wear too much face makeup because I won’t allow him to kiss me haha! 😛
My makeup varies by occasion. Sometimes I wear bright and fun makeup because it makes me happy. Other times I wear it to look flawless and professional.
For me it depends on my mood and the situation.
When I work outside home I wear make up to look professional and fresh.
When I work at home I don’t bother with make up at all.
For a tour on the town I like to splurge in colourful looks.
For party I want to look flawless and full of drama so there the “mask” comes in play. I always look like me though, but different sides of me 😀
I can quite happily go to work with a totally bare face, one devoid of all but basics of skincare.
I don’t know why but plastering my mush in makeup has never been something that I’ve felt I needed to do before I felt accepted/good enough to mingle with others.
Even now, you’re more likely to see me with no makeup on than with makeup.
I do realise (finally) what makes me look a bit more alive but I think you have to take the celeb pics with a pinch of salt. Even when they look really natural, they’re actually wearing a fair bit and it’s a pisstake trying to make yourself look that flawless without the skills that makeup artists have.
Funny you mention best bits..I used to think my eyes were tiny so I was always using light eyeliner to make them look bigger but then I realised that using black eyeliner on the waterline made my brown eyes really stand out so now I’m kind of over the light eyeliners.
I love the beautifully applied mask! I love to play with different colours, bronzers, blushes, highlighters, curl my lashes etc – and I love the way it looks…unfortunately I don’t have the time to do it all the time (work, kids and family get in the way :p) , so often make do with some tinted moisturiser, cream blush, tinted lip balm and mascara (if my lashes & brows aren’t tinted). I am just as comfortable in both, and love that I have the option to do both. I am 40 this year, and hope I never get ‘too old’ to play with different colours!
I don’t think of makeup in either way, I think of it as an extension of my personality, just like I choose my clothes and accessories to express myself. Of course, sometimes the occasion just requires me to look like a better version of myself ;]