I grew up in the dance world, so I am extremely accustomed to having a face caked with makeup. In spite of this (or more likely, because of this,) I had a very late start getting into the whole “decorating my face” thing. I really didn’t get how people could willingly put the stuff on every day.
* Please refer to terrifying photo of child-me in stage makeup.
I mean wouldn’t having to endure the above scar and scare you out of makeup for life?
In fact, when I was finally old enough to do my own stage makeup, I would try to cheat the system by putting on a lot of mascara instead of false eyelashes, or by skimping out on the foundation and just putting a powder heavy on my face. I’m sure I wasn’t fooling anyone, but no one called me out, so I got away with it.
In my later years of high school, the girls were starting to look more put together, more mature, and less like a 5 year old who had just rolled out of bed. This was thanks to puberty, and as I still suspect: their growing makeup skills. I felt like I had to put in some effort as to not be left in the dust, so I started wearing mascara to school. (In grade 12, that’s when I really got fancy and started using eyeliner–sometimes.)
So believe me, it was a surprise for most in my life when, at of 2016, I started spending ridiculous amounts of money on makeup. I was still mostly into the basics of eye shadows, mascaras, and eyeliners, and I only sort of began dabbling in lip glosses.
Then, a couple of months later, I found myself at a “Free Makeover” from a SmashBox Makeup artist, and dropped $200 on all the products she used on me. I even bought a contour kit. A CONTOUR KIT! I don’t know who I am anymore!! This is when I started to realize I could do more than just my eyes, I bought primers, eyebrow pencils, and started using my BB cream and concealers that I had lying around for no reason.
Part of the $200 I dropped.
The aforementioned Contour Kit.
Ironically, what I am most drawn to now is lips, lips, lips. This is something that I never would have seen myself even thinking about spending money on before . But now.. well, let’s not talk about spending money right now… Below is only a small piece of my collection.
The question I ask myself is “what brought it all on?” How did I manage to do a complete 180 in terms of how I look at makeup? And the answer was really, this blog. When I first started out, a friend of my mom’s had expressed interest in sending me makeup to review/promote once she started up her business. My first thought was “That’s cool”, followed by a “Sh*t, I don’t know how to use makeup.”
That was when my mom gave me some pretty sound advice. She told me to look at Makeup the way I had Natural Hair; learning through websites, bloggers, and of course Pinterest. And that is basically what I did. I created a Pinterest board, I found YouTube gurus that I fell in love, and all of a sudden I had a massive cosmetic wishlist.
Now it’s like makeup and I are old friends, and there’s no going back. I love the ability to switch up my look depending on how I’m feeling, the weather, or my overall outfit, and I think that’s what continues to draw me in. It’s not necessarily about “looking pretty”, but the opportunity to express myself in a way I had never before considered.”
So if I can’t kick my obsession, I might as well go all in right? What are some makeup brands you recommend I try out? Especially for Lipsticks!
~Comfy Girl With Curls
