Tag: why wear makeup?

#Makeupfreemonth

I recap on the benefits and drawbacks of being makeup free as I reach almost halfway!

It’s much easier 🙂 yep, this is definitely the case.

My bedroom floor is currently not littered with my half emptied out makeup bag from rushing to get ready….. But it is still littered with shoes and clothes (note to self, tidy bedroom).

I am very exposed :() but I feel less so now I’m halfway through the month.

Feeling more confident about a night out (actually out in a restaurant and bars) on Saturday sans makeup!

If I walk tall and confidently then I feel more confident about how I look (high shoes help as long as wobbling is kept to a minimum).

I appear to have developed my very first cold sore (wasn’t a cold sore just dry patch of skin), and I’ve hardly had any spots… Yet 😉

I AM getting ready quicker in the morn and for bed in the eve 🙂 although I’m not sure how efficiently I am using my extra time 🙂

I feel very pale…. Hmm yes I do, but my skin looks in better condition!

My eyes look small and tired…. Hmm fact. This morning felt really good, liked my reflection a lot until I took my sunglasses off ….

My skin feels fresher 🙂 and looks it- I’m getting complimented on it too!
In terms of what I’ve been using I’ve changed a little this week. I’ve started using the SUTI products that I was given, which feel great, but the facial oil I may need to change as I’m not a fan of the oils used in terms of smell. Bit musty.

I’ve also started using some grapeseed oil every morning along with coconut oil on my hands and face. My face feels great, and my body suits the shower scrub I use but my hands still feel like they need something a bit heavier. After several years of very frequent nappy changes, hand washing, general house stuff and painting my hands are looking like they belong to someone twice my age. They also feel a bit rough and dry so I may look into some homemade hand creams, to at least stop my little angels commenting on mummy’s ‘rough hands’!

I got a great personal tip this week from a woman who is very knowledgable in good skin. Star Khechara recommended using regular clay masks for glowing skin when going makeup free. I will be trying this over the weekend! Her site has lots of other good tips so take a look.
http://www.starkhechara.com/

Star has also got some recommendations for organic makeup products.

Right, where are those sunglasses?
If you would like to donate to Macmillan Cancer Support please do so via my Just giving page or via text as described below. xxxxxx http://www.justgiving.com/Susan-Merrick

or text MMFM £1 to 70070

Today I’m still recovering from ‘the bug’ but it gives me chance to write a little more about why I started wearing makeup.

I started wearing makeup at quite a young age, I was 13/14. I think I’d ‘played’ with it before then, but at this age I started to wear it more often for school, dance shows, parties.

Growing up I was surrounded by women who wore makeup everyday. My mum didn’t wear loads but she always wore some. My extended family too. My grandma owned a hairdressers and from teenagers my mum and her sisters were encouraged to dress up and wear makeup to model for her. My mum has continued to wear small amounts of makeup everyday since. Even though she actually spent a large part of her adult life mucking out horses rather than ‘partying’!

My mum, one of my aunts and myself are all red heads. My mum has always been proud to be a red head but growing up with red hair can be quite difficult. Even as an adult I have still had taunts and jibes about it. I have fair skin which freckles easily and pale eyelashes. Initially I wore makeup because my friends did, so I copied their style. Early 90’s it was lots of kohl eyeliner and too much pale foundation. I thought I was disguising my freckles and enhancing my eyes. In photos I’ve seen often I was simply making my complexion sickly and my eyes have permanent black smudges around them!

As I grew older I added eyeshadows and adapted my shades and styles of base. As an adult I became more aware of what suited me and the magic of blushers and bronzers. The thing with makeup I found was that the more I wore it, the more I felt I needed it. Especially as I became better at applying it. I could make myself look more awake, tanned, have larger eyes, it was really fun! That element of makeup I do still really enjoy. I enjoy playing a part with makeup.

I’ve more recently been attracted to vintage makeup in the 1940s styles. Red lips and false eyelashes. However this is just for evenings out, I’ve always had much simpler makeup during the day. As an artist too I find it fun to play with how I look and what I can do with makeup.

I am still aware however that when I put makeup on everyday, that’s generally not for fun. It’s because I feel I need it. Because I still feel my pale skin and fair eyes doesn’t look ‘right’.

Growing up being taunted makes you very self conscious about yourself and I’m still affected by it. As an adult I have had comments made to me and towards my children which have been so hurtful. Generally people don’t mean to be unkind. They just don’t realise that what they are saying makes you feel strange/ weird/ugly. I am stronger for my children, and if comments are made in front of them then I turn them into positive ones.

‘Ooh H is looking very ginger today’ said with slightly mock horror face….. And I reply with a smile ‘yes she is isn’t she, it’s very beautiful isn’t it’.

Funnily I am very aware of how beautiful my children’s skin is too. My daughter has pale lashes but her eyes don’t look small they are giant eyes and she has pale and creamy skin, beautiful. My sons skin is like is more like mine with a few freckles and he is gorgeous. I wish I could have embraced my natural skin when I was younger!

As an adult I have dyed my hair many times and again this is something I like to play with. Initially it was to disguise the red, but before I married I wanted to be natural again and had my long red hair natural again for 6 years- which I really enjoyed. After this I realised I was ready for a change and not because I wanted to disguise it, just because I wanted to play and have fun with it.

This last week without makeup has made me start to look at my skin and eyes in a different way. I’m not looking and thinking, ‘I need some makeup on’, instead I’m looking for the positives. My skin feels freer, fresher and my wrinkles are less pronounced than when I have makeup on. My eyes do look different but they don’t look as ‘bad’ as I always thought they did.

I’m quite excited that I may be learning to love my skin and face without makeup. I still want to play with makeup for events, but to not use it everyday would be incredibly freeing.