Here is my story of liberating myself from real and imaginary pressures of modern world to look a certain way. Just several years ago I could not imagine even taking garbage out without doing my hair and “fixing” my face. And here I am now going to the city center, important appointments, online meetings, everywhere, barely doing anything to my looks. To mention my reasons for going make-up free, it was for the health of my skin, maintaining a youthful appearance, saving time, having less attention from men, and last but not least, to pronounce my love for myself. I feel like this is the best way we can really not just say it but be it. When you truly love yourself, you accept all that you are, and are not afraid to show it to the world uncensored.
Why and how? If you lack courage to break through the limitations of how you can and cannot look and feel about yourself, just like I have been, here is how I got here.
Illusion of societal pressure
It’s an illusion that society forces us to wear make-up. This statement has gotten a mind of its own and now travels from lips to lips, with many of us not putting much if any thought into whether this is really the case. Do we convince ourselves of being forced? There is no one holding a weapon to our heads, and expectations of people depend on our expectations of their expectations. Do we just perceive people to treat us differently without make-up? Do most of them even notice it? How much do they care?
And, honestly, if anyone does judge you for that, there is little chance they can take any actions against you on the basis of your looks. Of course it’s a good idea to look neat for an interview or a first date. However, looking neat does not mean wearing make-up. And if it does, let’s redefine it!
What is looking neat?
Looking neat is taking care of your skin, hydrating yourself, having a healthy lifestyle. We all have role models of women who rock their natural look. And I mean those who do not secretly apply make-up and filter and “wake up like this.” Health is the best outfit you can wear, with proper self-care you just shine from within. And no make-up can achieve this effect.
Health suits you best
I have decided to focus on the heath of my body and skin: include superfoods, natural supplements into my diet, cutting out junk, doing sports, and focusing on my mental and spiritual health (this has always been my focus, but it took a while to start seeing results). I decided to dedicate the money I was spending on going out, alcohol, and other bad habits to masks, various pampering treatments, and organic fancy foods. Research what foods are good for skin and focus on that.
Nothing is wrong with you
Of course having imperfections like acne can make it difficult to go into the world as all natural. Just keep in mind that it is possible, and also very very good and healing for your acne! I remember how challenging it was. It is a process but you absolutely can get there. I am now getting to the boss level of self acceptance and don’t mind going places without even covering pimples. One thing I remember telling myself during my past breakouts is that this is natural. This is not out of the ordinary. God or the Universe has created acne. We shall never be ashamed of what is natural!
It is natural for you to be your most natural self. You were created this way, and nature makes no mistake. So whatever the shape of your nose is, you don’t have to contour it into a different one. You were intended to look that way. And your nose is beautiful. If you may struggle to see it now, you just got to find the beauty in it. You are a divine creation of Source, looking exactly the way you were intended to look, the way you yourself intended and chose to look. Yes, you have signed up for this exact body before descending onto this plane of existence. This instantly changes your perception of self, doesn’t it?
Self-acceptance is a skill to be trained
It is. Just like a muscle, it can be trained. You can cultivate it with daily actions, routines, exercises. Turn it into a habit to give compliments to yourself regularly throughout the day. Focus on what you already do like: maybe for now just your nails, your neck, your left knee. I believe most of us would say eyes. But it can really be anything. No matter what insecurities we might have, there are always plenty of parts of our body we do love. Just give it some thought.
Listen to affirmations that connect you to your Goddess energy, divine origin, perfect imperfection, your essence as a magical beautiful magnetic being of light and love. This is who you are really are. So how can there be any question about your beauty? I hope you are already learning to discover your magic and the infinite self-love you can find within. It is not even hidden that deep. We just got to remove the noise, false opinions about ourselves we have been exposed to. Meditation, affirmations, practices of deeply connecting to your body will do the trick.
What I do instead of make-up
As mentioned earlier, I believe it is important to look neat. This is a form of self-care: washing and brushing hair, wearing clean clothes, having a good skincare routine. And it is fun to do little things to look nicer, like experiment with hair. I don’t mean to say that we should not do anything to our natural look. There are a few things I do to replace make-up and complement being make-up free. I feel that this just accentuates natural beauty. It may seem to contradict the complete self-acceptance idea, but I don’t see it that way. I am, actually, not against make-up per se. I just do not appreciate us being attached to it and dependent on it.
What I do is permanent lash extensions and I have ombre brows permanent make-up treatment done for my eyebrows. Both look natural, eliminate the need in make-up, save a lot of time, and just accentuate the features of your unique face. I find this a wonderful alternative to wearing make-up. Just find a good technician for those procedures.
I don’t remember when I last had an eyeshadow on. The maximum I wear on special occasions is CC cream, a bit of blush and illuminizer for cheek bones. I just add a bit of natural organic CC cream (which is actually skincare) to my day cream, when I go somewhere with my partner, for example.
The idea of this article is for us to invite ourselves to be free in exploring how we feel confident, self-loving and worthy of great things, with or without make-up. Especially if you are younger and have been convinced by the media that you have to hide under a layer of foundation, it may take a minute to get there mindset-wise. Just keep going! And keep loving your truly magical and perfectly designed to blossom self.
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