Lately I have been interested in make-up a lot. This is a new thing for me because I had hardly ever used make-up in my life till six months ago on my civil wedding. My civil wedding was kind of like a spontaneous affair and we only planned to get it done a month before it actually happened. We got a time of a month mainly because all the registration procedures take so long! So anyway, that gave me about a month to prepare what I’m going to wear. Now I had thought it was simply going to the registration office and signing a piece of paper but our families invited over fifty people to attend the ceremony and I was told I am going to have to dress up. This may sound exciting first but it was very scary for me as I only came to know about it two weeks before the wedding. I had been planning to wear jeans to be honest! When I found out about this, I quickly arranged a dress to be brought by my mom from India but what about make-up? I couldn’t afford to hire a make-up artist, not to mention finding one in a city that I was hardly familiar with. My mum-in-law offered help with one of her nieces willing to do the make-up for me but that made me extremely uncomfortable because I hadn’t ever talked to her.
Luckily, I asked a friend in London and she offered to do the make-up for me. I was relieved and all went well at the wedding. The make-up looked absolutely stunning. I have posted some photos here for you to see.
The fabulous job done by my friend started making me inclined towards using make-up more often. I started looking at make-up tutorials on YouTube, buying different brands of make-up, doing make-up trials myself and my husband basically thinks I’ve gone make-up crazy. I realised I LOVE make-up. It makes you feel so confident and so conscious of your own self. you see yourself differently. I was able to notice all the good things and bad things about my face that I never noticed before. I learnt how I could accentuate my features and hide the ones I did not like. It has made me feel adventurous about trying different looks, learning about different products and exactly how it transforms someone’s face.
Now, many people, including my husband, feel that make-up is unnecessary. You should be more like yourself, without a mask, embracing all your features-good or bad. I agree with the fact that everyone should love their body, faces, features, everything about them. But there is something wrong about the argument made about make-up. I do accept that I might be inclined towards wearing make-up because I love it but let’s just focus on exactly that. How make-up makes you feel. It makes me feel so much more ready, happy and confident when I see other people. Its not so much for them but for me. Sometimes, I like to wear make-up just for me when I’m alone at home. Why shouldn’t you wear it if it makes you feel happy? It’s not harming your body, its not harming anyone else, its making you feel good about yourself so why not? It’s like why would you not want to read books for pleasure? Why would you not want to exercise and build abs even though you’re perfectly comfortable with your body. Why do you have to buy clothes that fit you if just the regular ones that your mom used to wear are functioning just as well to cover your body?
Last month, my husband noticed that I have been wearing make-up almost everyday and every time I did, he would tell me I don’t need to wear make-up and that he loves me just the way I am. He said he likes me better without make-up. I know that’s sweet and he’s trying to make a point that I don’t have to wear make-up to please him, if that’s the reason for me wearing make-up. But I finally told him I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for me. I’m doing it because it makes me feel happy and makes me feel beautiful. After that he never said a thing to me.
All this talk about make-up shaming (that’s a thing now?) is so ridiculous. Everything that people do is their choice.I agree that there are girls who cannot walk outside their house without make-up because they are so ashamed of their face. But that’s not what make-up is for. It’s not to hide who you are but to make you proud of who you are. If you are using make-up to hide yourself, you have a problem. But at the same time, make-up is a choice. You cannot tell someone to wear or not wear make-up.
I remember I cried when I found out I have to wear make-up for my wedding because I was so scared. I thought people want me to be someone else. I told me husband I am scared and he said it’s only for other people and not him. That says a lot about how people want to see you. They want to see you as having flawless skin, bright eyes, rosy cheeks and soft lips. And then we blame the girls for wearing make-up when they do. Really?
Life's little bits and bobs 