To All The Girls Who Think Makeup Defines Their Beauty

It doesn’t.

Every pore on your skin, the shape of your cheekbones, the length of your lashes and the way your lip curls when you smile are unique to you and only you; and are ultimately the things that make you beautiful. We’re only human, and as a little girl, a teenager, and a young adult I have struggled with the idea of what it means to be truly beautiful. Even though we all start out bare faced somehow with each passing year I began to equate my self-worth with the layer on my face and how people perceived me physically.

What I don’t understand is when we became so shallow that a blemish on our faces suddenly became unacceptable? When did we forget that all of this came to be in order to empower us versus put us down? When did we become so afraid to be ourselves and be seen without a smidgen of makeup that it governed how freely and carefree we lived?

And more importantly, when did we lose sight that beauty is far more than skin deep.

I don’t know when it happened, but I know it happened because I am the product of it all. I have struggled tirelessly with the idea of being myself. Every morning of every day I have trained myself to hide and put my best face forward. But isn’t my best face the one that is true?

If our standard of beauty has become a face that is so far from my own than I have come to terms that I don’t ever want to be that kind of beauty.

In no way, shape or form am I condemning makeup. I’m just telling you to love yourself with or without it. Because at the end of the day makeup is only intended to highlight and enhance everything you already are; not define you.

We get so caught up and lost that we forget that makeup can only enhance our natural beauty. We begin to believe it is makeup that in turn makes us appealing. We have all reached this crossroad at some point in time, and it’s important to let go of who you so desperately want to be and accept who you are and allow that to dictate your perceived notion of beauty.

Learn to be your own kind of beautiful. That’s when you’ll realize that there is so much more to you than meets the eye. That it’s your radiant unapologetic smile that is capable of lighting up a room that is alluring. The fire in your soul that chooses to fight despite every heartache and mishap life throws your way.

It’s the way your eyes sparkle when you fall in love with the little things around you. It’s the way you walk, the way you dance, the way you sway with the wind that makes you the gorgeous force that you are. It’s the lines around your lips that have shaped your face due to every happy moment that add to your appeal. It’s the little freckle on your skin that the sun-kissed just to make you one of one.

Please don’t lose sight of the fact that brush you take to your skin is nothing more than a tool that gives your already glistening skin that extra sparkle. That line you draw above your lash is just there to enhance your already perfect eye. And remember that there should never be a moment in time where you should ever be ashamed to show the world just how flawless you are underneath it all.