Why do you even wear makeup?

Apr 22, 2014

Symone B.

Hello beautiful,

The obvious question is, why do you wear makeup? But I never thought about it before lol There seems to be this misconception that girls who wear makeup are trying to hide something or are insecure.

Sooo, why do you wear it?

For me personally, not the case. After pondering this, I realize that I wear makeup because I'm a lonely artist lol. I started at 13, I didn't have much friends (still don't) and my mom worked all the time. I would spend all my time on YouTube. Those gurus weren't just girls on a screen. They were like my "friends." Lol sounds so sad, but I'm happy. I been an artist (drawing-fashion sketching in particular) all my life. Whenever I stay away from it to long, I get sad. I don't have time to take 4+ hours to draw a picture everyday but I can take time everyday to do my makeup. This is my new art.

I know I'm only 17 (shocker, huh?) but I'm learning how to do it, to cultivate my craft and activate my creativity again. (Beautylish had helped so much with that)

Xoxo,
Lola Symone

Apr 22, 2014

Anissa J.

Omg you're soo strong. 😭
I wear makeup cuz I feel a bit ugly without it.

Apr 22, 2014

Arianna O.

I personally wear makeup to accentuate my features.. Make my eyes pop more or give out a certain vibe with a certain color of lipstick. I'll have days where I just play around and go with colorful, bold makeup. I don't hide anything but I like making my face stand out more.

Apr 22, 2014

Karina F.

Yeah, I wear makeup to cover up my problematic skin. It's like a mask of confidence, a protective barrier. Without it I just feel soo vulnerable. It's quite sad really :/

Apr 22, 2014

Allie P.

For me and me only. C:

And the whole process is very relaxing. That's probably why it takes me forever. 😂

Apr 22, 2014

Roz X.

What a great thread, Symone. You have an old soul, indeed. I am sorry to those that have had to endure bullying. I hope you see it is the bully's insecurities that drives such wretchedness and not your own.

I wear it because I feel beautiful in it. I wear lipstick every day...even home alone. Although I do it for me, it also feels nice to have others nod to my efforts. I'm not very artistic in my make up, but I am very much so elsewhere. Beautylish has elevated my application knowledge and is inspirational. :)

Apr 22, 2014

Symone B.

Awww! I love hearing you guys' stories. It's so funny that makeup, something meant to cover up, brings out such beauty and positivity from us whether it's escaping our insecurities or just relaxing.

Apr 22, 2014

Mariam A.

I wear makeup because it's so much fun (:

Apr 22, 2014

Nala H.

I wear it because I like it lol I'm a cat eye girl for life. I can easily go outside without makeup and be 100% fine. Makeup doesn't control my confidence.

I like having full brows also but honestly most days I don't wear it. (I work now, so I really don't care lol) my makeup is just fun for me.

Apr 22, 2014

Marleen B.

I want to "outside" to express how I feel on the inside. Or sometimes I want to hide what's going on, on the inside & put on a happy face. Sometimes a happy (pretty) face can make you feel better on the inside.

Apr 22, 2014

Tabitha F.

I just love doing it! Plus it makes me feel as though I look good, and well that's always a good feeling right? Also I hate to say this, but its true, I also feel so much more confident in it xox

Apr 22, 2014

Symone B.

I agree! Makeup does make me happy. I use it as mediation every morning. I love planning out my different looks then carrying them out to see if I can achieve what I envisioned in my head. It's such a creative outlet for me

Apr 22, 2014

Symone B.

It is therapy too. I love that makeup gives us an escape to whatever we are dealing with. It's just a time to concentrate on little things. Gets my mind off of the more hectic things in life. Sometimes I like fiddling with my winged liner vs. Being so stressed about everything

Apr 22, 2014

Maggie W.

I wear makeup to cover up blemishes because when I don't wear makeup I don't feel confident I also love expressing my feeling through makeup I'm just 13 and go to a private school so we aren't really suppose to wear makeup in middle school so I just wear natural makeup and most people don't even know I wear makeup.

Apr 22, 2014

Noelle M.

I agree with arianna o. without makeup I feel like my face is boring, so I like to bring out my natural features that are hideing. plus I lovee getting all cute and dressed up.

Apr 22, 2014

Noelle M.

Omgg symone! I didnt realize you were 17 , your so beautiful and unique!

Apr 22, 2014

Sanjana N.

Most of the days I'm without makeup...
when I do , I do it because it makes me happy and not to hide anything...

Apr 22, 2014

Katriena c.

I wear makeup because I don't have much friends so I keep myself entertained and to express how I feel

Apr 22, 2014

Kitty K.

Why do I wear make up? This is going to be a long and boring answer, lol!

This can cover a lot of different reasons. This can go beyond any other topic that I've never really discussed with anyone but I don't mind sharing it.

At my early ages, pimples or not. I simply did not care for make up. I did not care for mascara, I only did make up on picture day. And it was my mom who applied it - I was terrified at the thought of applying mascara.

However, my love was for graphic art. At 12 years old I was wasting my time away on art forums. Digital art is more than just taking away a blemish from someone's face. It goes as far as painting from scratch. And I was very pleased with that.
Eventually, after spending up to 12 hours even- on art work, I became good. I became really good. I know more than my digital art teacher. I knew Photoshop like the back of my hand. After all, it paid off when people were offering me good money to buy artwork. Teachers at school were entering me in art digital art contests, first place galore.
Unfortunately, once you become really good... people begin to steal your art work. I don't want to pay a lawyer to DMCA every other theft. I just wanted people to stop stealing.
It didn't matter how big I signed my name on a piece with my tablet, people took it left and right.. Up to this day I still receive messages on DeviantArt or other art forums. 'Hey xyz took your work.'

So late fall of 2013, around September... I declared that I was 'retired'. I had only begun doing simple make up... but I found that I really enjoyed it. I was doing it inbetween breaks and realized I felt just as happy.
Plus, I didn't have to worry about painting a face and an eyeball from scratch.

It felt just as satisfying... I can take up to 25 minutes doing something simple just because I enjoyed the act of doing it. Whether it'd be applying eyeshadow or just blending foundation. Nothing else matters to me when I'm putting on makeup, I'm not thinking about anything else.
On top of that? Word spreads fast. People see good make up and people want. I already had to use my brand new Electric Palette on other clients.
And the best part? I get to be in my artistic side and show off my work... and I don't have to worry about someone else taking my picture and trying to sell it for double the price.

Make up is a form of art. People get really excited when I do make up on them. It's nice to see how confident they feel, but I simply don't care for their emotion. I enjoyed myself more doing the make up then seeing how happy someone gets. Strange, but it's true.

Make up goes hand in hand with art work. Contouring?
Guess what - the rules of contouring goes hand in hand with art. In order to create a dimensional face I need to contour. I can't just paint eyes nose and lips... I need to create shadows and make up is probably the best way to visually show where those shadows would go.

I may have been only doing make up for a year or a little less, at the young age of 18.
But I enjoy doing it - and I personally wouldn't mind wiping it off and doing it over and over again.

Apr 22, 2014

Symone B.

Thank you Noelle ❤️

And that's such an interesting take on things, Kitty. That's such a unique reason. It's sad you had to retire because people didn't know how to act but I think it's beautiful that you found another way to express yourself

Apr 22, 2014

Emily W.

As a fellow artist that offers work online, I understand how frustrating intellectual property theft is, Kitty! Pinterest is the ninth circle of Hell for people taking images without credit and passing them all over kingdom come without permission.

As for the topic at hand: My story is kind of long. In college, I was studying anthropology, and training as an archaeologist (my lifelong dream). Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that my asthma has gotten so severe that field work is just too dangerous (on my last dig we were in a remote location and I had issues, and we were hours from the nearest emergency medical help. I almost died) and being in the lab caused problems as well. My entire life I had wanted to be an archaeologist, and now it would never happen.

I had worked in a professional haunted house for a couple seasons for fun, and I started learning simple special effects. I transformed myself and my fiance into zombies, robots, and vampires various times, and found that I enjoyed it. I began toying with the idea of maybe making this my new career.

I love creating things out of the ordinary, or making something so realistic that others are completely shocked. My favorite moment so far is when we had to call an ambulance after a zombie walk (I had an asthma attack) and the paramedics actually thought I had been attacked by someone because my wounds looked real. That was kinda the moment (well, after I was able to breathe again) that I actually might have a future in this.

So I transfered into a business program so that I can finish my BS (and have a strong foundation for being a freelance), and I intend to go to Cinema Makeup School after I graduate. My fiance is studying computer and electrical engineering, but has a background in digital design and programming, and we hope to start a physical and digital FX studio eventually. :)

Apr 22, 2014

Symone B.

Oh my goodness! That Is amazing Emily. I'm so happy it had a happy ending. I love our dreams always find us again, sometimes just in disguise as something else

Apr 22, 2014

Rachel M.

I wear makeup because it makes me feel even more beautiful and I enjoy the process of putting it on it's relaxing to me and I take forever to do it because I'm a perfectionist lol.

Apr 22, 2014

Stephanie S.

I do it to accentuate the features I already have. I don't care to go without makeup usually I do my makeup when I get bored lol.

Apr 22, 2014

Bella L.

Well my makeup journey started when I was 13 and I was a girl with one eyebrow and lots of acne and felt very lowly of myself every time I would complain to my mom she would just brush it off so eventually I ended up tweezing my own eyebrows and buying bb cream to cover my acne I eventually started feeling prettier and decided to add mascara and then I would look even nicer people started talking to me nobody called me names anymore everyone thought I looked gorgeous with my makeup then when I was 14 I decided to further my learning and started using foundation that made my face look flawless and then I added eyeliner and now I'm 15 going on 16 and my reason now is too be able to look in the miror and smile and say look how pretty she is