Jezebel 
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New York, 7:12 AM
Mon Dec 21
18 posts in the last 24 hours
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12/08/09
12/08/09
I love makeup and my bathroom looks like a MAC store, but there was never a time that wearing it or not wearing it went into consideration when making friends.
The best part of being the only "makeup girl" in my group? Being the makeup artist for their weddings. :)
12/08/09
I would certainly never judge someone for not wearing make up though like Shane Watson seems to think happens and I just hope no-one judges me for always wearing make up in return!
12/08/09
12/08/09
12/08/09
Oh, and my mother never ever wore makeup and kind of looks like a weirdo when she does.
12/08/09
I just love make up and the ritual of applying it, even though none of the women in my family wear more than lipstick. I've been wearing make up everyday since I was about 12 and I can't imagine changing now.
12/08/09
I still love putting make-up on, and did it every day until I had my son. Unfortunately, now my priority is making sure he gets to daycare and that I get to work on time, no matter what state I am in. Once he is older and if he is ever potty trained, I will probably have a spare 3 minutes and will go back to my routine.
12/08/09
I never wore make-up until I was 17, when I started wearing eyeliner to rock gigs. Now I go through phases of putting on some concealer and mascara every morning, but then I get lazy. But come night time, I have been known to look like an Amy Winehouse meets Elvira drag queen.
12/08/09
And for years, I got the message (from other women, from men, from my mother) that girls who didn't wear makeup were more "natural" and less vain. That women who wore makeup were insecure or permiscuous. I was told by family members and strangers that my makeup caused my acne (note from my dermatologists - it did not). In other words, my decade of misery was my own damn fault for being so self-involved as to apply makeup in the morning.
My brother once told me he envied my ability to wear makeup, because he had no way of hiding his own skin problems.
Women (and men) are under so much pressure to be beautiful and desirable. Airbrushed images have elevated the standard of good skin or a pretty face. Some women feel comfortable leaving the house with a scrubbed face, and more power to them. But wearing makeup (or not) doesn't say anything about your character or what "kind" of woman you are, anymore than wearing a miniskirt does.
12/08/09
But I guess to the outside world and to Watson, I'm just a vain girly-girl who spends my time primping and posing in mirrors to ensure I look the right amount of pretty. Afterall, it's my philosophy on life.
12/08/09
Sigh. And ugh, I too get all the recommended lifestyle changes. Which again, just serve to make the recommendor feel good about her own choices. I have clear skin because I eat better than you! I have clear skin because I exercise more! I have clear skin because I'm smarter or more careful or more conscientious!
They have clear skin because their genes said so. It's like bragging because you're tall.
12/08/09
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12/08/09
But my experience is that plenty of people, myself included, don't really feel like we have a choice in wearing makeup. And I resent the fact that people would think my decision to wear makeup, which is the result of both a medical problem and a desire to fit in with society at large (as opposed to some self-selecting group of "makeup girls"), says something about who I am as a person.
12/08/09
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12/08/09
I also have really sensitive skin. Even hypoallergenics tend to make my eyelids swell up so I cannot open them. Even using *mineral oil* on my mom's advice to remove mascara once caused this, and they were swollen for three days. Not worth it.
12/08/09
12/08/09
I think most women who are afraid of makeup, as i used to be, could watch some makeover shows and learn to do just enough to convince your boss or hiring manager that you're more put-together than you are. It's the American way!
12/07/09
I do enjoy putting my face on and getting really creative with fun eye looks for special occasions – so I’ll cop to that happily and most likely I would still enjoy that even if I had excellent skin. But I do feel defensive sometimes about comments like "Who would wear makeup to the gym?" For me, it’s not an optional or indulgent thing – it’s more like an essential remedy that I don’t have a choice about, because wearing a bare face full of acne or rosacea is too hard. I have on a few occasions explained this to friends who wear less to no makeup and have far better skin and they have understood, and I think tempered their own judgments on the matter. Perhaps, if we are to reason backwards, this might mean that Democrats and Republicans can be friends. Or have I just gone too far?
12/08/09
12/07/09
12/07/09
1. pregnant
2. menstruating
3. a mother
4. a dumb blonde
5. a wife
6. "do-able"
7. a slut
8. a "makeup girl"
n. [...]
All of which implies there is one thing you are probably not:
1. a human