Easy, Breezy, Beautiful

When lockdown hit, (yes, I am still talking about it), I instantly stopped wearing makeup. It was a glorious and very emotional moment for me. Not only was the traffic amazing, (RIP level 4 Auckland traffic), but also because I didn’t have to spend the early hours of the morning applying my skin suffocating mask for the day. When I realised how much time I saved and that this particular mask DIDN’T protect me from Covid-19 (I’m looking at you Lancome, sort your shit out), I got addicted to being barefaced. I also only saw three people in the office, from a safe two metre STAND BACK I don’t have Covid but don’t look at me distance, so it was all good.  

As you can tell I’m 'pretty chill' so I really didn’t care. Maybe I wasn’t socially acceptable 'pretty' anymore but hey it’s a new wave of what I am calling pandemic pretty. Which is code for wear what the hell you want, smother or not smother your face with whatever you like and learn to not give a flying fruit basket about what others think.

Remember when no make up selfies were a thing. I have always been late to the party. So five years later, please enjoy these collages of my no makeup work days. As you can see, I am a bundle of laughs at work. 

Since entering my late twenties, you kind of have this IDAF, I will probably be single forever and it’s ok, just don’t cry about it, I said STOP crying about it attitude. As a result of being pandemic pretty my no mascara eyelashes didn’t run when crying about my life and I definitely felt fierce when I was wearing no makeup, nothing at all. Nothing at all.

Unpopular opinion: makeup is a big fat oily lie. It's a silky smooth Band-Aid that patches up our insecurities and I’m going to chuck out a widely inaccurate stat that 99% of us think we look better with it. Not to throw my family under the bus, but some of us don’t have the best genetic gene pool and are left with uneven skin tone, redness, acne and of course succumb to the unavoidable pitfall of life called 'time' or as our skin likes to call it 'wrinkles'. So a cover up is called to action for this kooky gal.

To be honest putting on makeup does give me confidence. Cue the feminist groans. Hear me out. I feel like I can take on the world when my acne, spider veined cheeks and wrinkles are smothered with foundation and my stumpy eyelashes suddenly appear as I brush on that mascara. There ain’t anything wrong with that. The most important thing is, I do it for me. No one has ever pressured me to wear makeup, the closest I got to being shamed for having this face, was when I was 13 and my older sister told me I should really pluck my eyebrows. Did I really have to? No. Do I pluck them now? No. Are they bushy and out of control? Yes.

The collages keep coming and my facial expressions remain the same. If these don't scream 'life of the party', I don't know what does. 

My makeup is basic AF. I don’t spend my free time watching the trendy tutorials. I’m not an artist. I was never talented with a paint brush or pencil and low and behold the make up brush and eyeliner is no exception. However, I can admit that with whatever limited skills I have, I do look different with make up on. I truly madly deeply do. It’s an art form for some, a confidence booster and a security blanket for others. Yes, makeup will do what it is designed to do. It covers up blemishes and it makes you go from no eyebrows, to two! It’s the best sort of magic a low-income, can’t afford a house, 27 year old can buy.

When the mask is off, the most important thing is that you have to be able to feel confident in your authentic skin. Being pandemic pretty for over two months proved that I could go without makeup and it was ok. Even when everyone was integrated back into the office, I got a bit anxious. But by the end of the first week, I was rocking my “meh”, socks (only $19.99- shameless plug). As long as we accept why we're wearing it, make sure it’s our choice and not the pressure of a partner or parent, and learn to feel comfortable without it, the sooner you can embrace being an easy, breezy, beautiful kooky gal.