Wednesday 31 October 2012

Why do you wear make-up?

A couple of weeks ago, I was offered some food for thought by a four year old when they asked me the question: What is that on your eyes? When I explained it was make-up, it was followed by the question "Why do you wear it?" I should have seen this coming, children are naturally curious, but I found this a difficult question to answer to someone so young. I don't often think about why I wear make-up, but if I had to break it down and tell you why I wear make-up I could. 
  1.  To look better. Pretty simple really, make-up is a man-made miracle. It improves our appearance, and how far you want to go with this is up to you, whether you want to completely transform your appearance or just enhance what you have naturally. Sometimes the make-up I sport is purely functional – to smooth out my skin, hide blemishes, make my seemingly non-existent eyelashes visible, that kind of thing..
  2. To feel better. Which leads on from point 1. If I look better, I feel a bit better about myself. I realise this is superficial, but I doubt there’s a female out there who doesn’t feel the same about make-up. Would we be wearing it if it made us feel bad about ourselves?!
  3.  I enjoy make-up. Yes, it has become habit, one that’s hard to break and I wouldn’t know what to do with myself and my extra time in the morning if I took my make-up application out of the routine, but I enjoy the process of doing my make-up. I’m a creative person, so I enjoy creating different looks and experimenting with colour and techniques.

I think what’s important to clarify here is that these are personal reasons, reasons that affect me. I’m not wearing it because I worry about how others perceive me. I wear make-up for myself. But, when you feel good about yourself, this gives you a sense of confidence which then affects how you present yourself with other people. There are times when I leave the house without my make-up, when it’s not necessary to wear it. I’m not thinking what are people wondering about me because I’m probably doing something where I really couldn’t care what I look like, such as jogging! So wearing make-up for me is not a case of hiding behind it, but enhancing what I have and choosing the way I want to present myself to the world, much in the same way that people choose their sense of style in clothes.

It’s easy for me to write this as a blog post and I’m sure those of you reading this have similar reasons for wearing make-up. But to explain this to the younger generation just seemed a somewhat difficult feat, to be able to articulate it in the same way I just have. Because the simple answer to why I wear make-up is to look and feel better. But to someone younger this could be misconstrued to mean you’re not good enough if you don’t wear make-up. Definitely not the message I would want to put out to an easily influenced young mind. I was well into my teens before I got interested in make-up, I’d guess around 16, but never felt pressured to wearing it, but I think things are changing and there is much more pressure much earlier on for young girls.
Anyway, the purpose of this post was, I suppose, to explain why I wear make-up, and to think of reasons why other people might. I think whether you wear it to conceal or reveal is entirely your decision. As I’ve said, I’m a mixture of the two, but what I find sad is there might be people who depend on make-up. I’m pretty much a beauty fanatic, but would not label myself in the category of dependent upon it. 


So, readers of the blogosphere, why do you wear make-up?

10 comments:

Boots Treat Street said...

Really nice post! We also love makeup

Halley said...

You have such a lovely blog, my boyfriend asked me the same question the other day I didn't have a clue what to answer xx

www.belleamourx.blogspot.co.uk

Onyx said...

@Boots- Thankyou! And thanks for checking out my blog.
xXx

Onyx said...

@Halley - I know what you mean - I did feel a bit on the spot when I was first asked, make-up has become very habitual to me, I rarely think about what I'm doing or why.
xXx

Roza said...

This really got me thinking as well. One of the main reasons I wear makeup is for the simple fact that I have terrible skin and it helps enhance some of the better qualities I have.

You have a lovely blog.

Love Roza
http://alittlebitofroza.blogspot.co.uk

Unknown said...

For me the reason to wear everyday make up: it makes you look 10 times more awake, even without an actual good night's sleep :)
would you like to follow each other?
A
xx
http://epiquemoi.blogspot.com

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Anonymous said...

Hmmm, I think I need to answer that question, too.

Unknown said...

Love this post babe! Make-up for me is for my own confidence. Of course it is not a necessity but it sorts of gives me a boost of energy and gets me ready to start the day in style.

One of the reasons I'm glad to be a girl :')

www.think-beautiful-thoughts.blogspot.com

SamanthaLusts said...

Great post :)
I'm a new follower.
Samantha xo

http://samanthalusts.blogspot.com.au/

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