Make-up does wonders

When I was a tween, I was so excited to become a teenager and start wearing make-up. But when I became a teenager, I never broke out in acne or felt the pressure to use make-up. Honestly, I didn't even know how to use anything. YouTube didn't exist yet. I don't have any female cousins. And there were way too many products for me to decipher. To this day, I still don't know the function of half the products on the market. I am very grateful to have pretty good skin. Even though as a tween, I couldn't wait to get my first breakout because I felt it was all a part of the maturing process. It was like a rite of passage to become a teenager. Now I am so glad to have never had breakouts.

So when I watched this video (click here), I could not help but feel this girl's pain and admire her bravery and courageousness to film this video. She really put herself in a vulnerable position by posting this on YouTube. I think a lot of women feel insecure without their beauty products. I went into work one day and I was running late so I had no time to do my make-up. I mentioned that to one of my co-workers and she said, "really, I couldn't tell you didn't have make-up on!"  I have only been using make-up on a daily basis for the past year. And now that I have become used to it, I know what women mean when they say, "I feel so naked without make-up!" And I don't even use that much make-up. But when I don't have it on, I just automatically feel "uglier". I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. I just wonder when this switch in mentality happened--I never used to be so dependent on make-up for a confident boost, but now I do. I think about my make-up a lot--whether it's smeared or needs to be re-touched...it's a lot of maintenance to be pretty these days. I miss those carefree days where I just didn't need make-up.

The make-up industry is a $10 billion dollar industry. And it does not seem to be on the decline, even in a recession economy...women cannot live without their products. In this video tutorial, the girl uses 8 products and the brands that she uses are pretty high end. The Make Up Forever foundation costs $40 for 1 oz. For $40, I can go to D.C. and back on megabus. Or a roundtrip bus ticket to Boston! Kinda crazy, right!?

So anyway, this video proves that make-up truly does wonders to enhance a person's outer beauty. I resisted using make-up for the longest time because I didn't feel the need to wear make-up. I've always been more on the tomboy side. But last year, I decided that applying make-up is an important life skill for me as a woman. So I learned, thanks to YouTube! Now I blush and feel a teeny bit proud whenever anybody tells me that they like my make-up because it's something I'm still getting used to.