Last Saturday I attended a red carpet film premiere and the inevitable happened. A lot of things I’ve been avoiding my whole life were forced upon me all in one evening – heels, fancy dresses, makeup & basically making an actual effort to look nice – all while in public. Did I mention heels…in public?
Needless to say I had to have a lot of help. My roommate let me borrow shoes & a dress. She also did my makeup. She basically is responsible for making me look so good! And since the last time I wore heels, a fancy dress & a full face of makeup was about 2 years ago for my sister’s wedding, there were many people who were anxiously awaiting a photo to see this momentous occasion.
Needless to say I did turn a few heads but I’m quite happy to go back to my usual style of getting ready in 5 minutes rather than taking much longer (I don’t even want to say how long it took me to pull that look off!)
It is crazy to think that some people dress like this (maybe minus the fancy dress) on any given day of their life and spend that much time making themselves look good. I don’t care enough about how I look or have that much patience. But I think it stems from how my parents raised me and my sisters. Their first priority for us was always making sure our faith and character was growing. They never overly focused on our physical appearance.
Of course they would buy us nice clothes and let us wear makeup. They did always want us to be presentable and look nice but they always made sure we knew that our appearances didn’t define us. They taught us to know who we are and be comfortable with who we are first before worrying about what we look like.
My mom probably regrets teaching me this lesson so well because I only occasionally wear makeup, rarely wear my hair down & never wear heels (except for when I’m a bridesmaid). I mean I like to look good – what girl doesn’t? But spending a few minutes making myself look good is about all the time I want to invest in my physical appearance most days. So it really suprised me when one of my friends told me I was so brave for not wearing makeup. She has worn makeup every day since she was 16!
This is what I hate about the world. For many girls, the world makes the decision for them about whether or not they will wear makeup (and sometimes the clothes they buy or even the food they eat – or don’t eat). The world sets impossible beauty standards thanks to Photoshop then make girls think they have to invest all this money, time & energy in trying to look as good as what they are seeing which most of the time isn’t a truthful representation of reality.
Looking good is fine and I’ll be the first to admit that I probably should try a little harder when it comes to my physical appearance. But when your definition of looking good is using makeup to the point where you can’t even go one day without it and let people see your real face? This is where I am so thankful for my parents’ influence.
Life is so much easier and less stressful when you don’t have to worry about keeping every hair in place & every blemish covered up. Believe me I tried it for a night. And one night was enough. It’s totally overrated. I’m back in my normal attire until the next red carpet (or wedding).
Here here!
I always tell my stylists that I will either put one product on my hair or brush it, but not both. And make up? Once a year maybe. I don’t like the time and money it takes for the up keep. There is also a bit of a rebel in me that says, “I won’t do it just because you told me to do it.” I never thought of it as brave though.