Let’s Talk About…: Makeup, Beauty Standards and Blemishes

Before……….Wait For It…………After!

As is made clear in the photo above, I have skin issues. When I was in my teens, I prayed for the day when I would finally be finished with puberty and my skin would be healthy, flawless, ivory, “woman’s” skin. Now nearly 22 years of age, I’ve come to terms with biology: something about my ancestry, skin care regimen, hormones, etc. creates blemishes on my face. End of story. I have also been blessed with panda-esque dark circles and dark, thick eyebrows that grow at an alarming rate.

I’m flawed, not flawless.

Now, the question is: does the fact that I have blemishes mean that I cannot be beautiful? Does it mean that I have to live my life, editing my photos to hide what I truly look like, never going out without makeup and only approaching men that are “on my level”? Does it mean I have to live an apology?

The truth? Of course not. Because beauty really isn’t just skin deep, no matter what the movies, magazines and celebrities say, cliché and all. Beauty is found within the soul. It’s in the way we treat other human beings. It’s in the individuals that we are. It’s even in our blemishes because, let’s face it, we wouldn’t be us without them. The rest – the stuff on the outside – the physical; that’s just aesthetic. It will only matter as much as you make it matter (which consequently is a lot to me, personally, but that’s okay ((as long as I’m healthy)).

You might be thinking, ‘Well Mars, if you think you’re okay the way you are, why do you wear and buy so much makeup, huh?’ Well, that’s simple: because I love it. I love painting my face in (expensive) tinted creams and powders and glosses, everyday. I love having red lips on sunday and peach lips on Monday; cat eyes for nights out and glittering, beige colored shadow for casual days. I love feeling connected to the billions of women alive (and the billions of women who have come before me) who make blush an integral part of their lives. I don’t wear makeup because society tells me to. I don’t wear makeup because I think I have to. I wear it for me. I wear it because I want to.

This truth counts for everyone. You’re beautiful because you’re you: idiosyncrasies, blemishes, quirks and all. You don’t need to wear, do or think anything, just because friends/family/society says to. No one can decide the kind of human being you are going to be but you.

You only have one life to live, so why not live it your way?

Mars, signing off. ◇