Sep 12 2012
Plastic Me
I was never the type to wear makeup. The pots, the compacts, the brushes, the feeling of being like everyone else didn’t appeal to me. In fact, I found it repulsive. I couldn’t come to understand why women strived to all look the same, when in fact the whole purpose of life is to be different from each other. Women that wore makeup were all trying to look like Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie, or so I thought. During my junior year in high school, I was required to complete an internship. I was able to snag one with a very prominent local photographer and his team. His team consisted of a makeup artist. I can’t say that I didn’t like her as a person, but her line of work didn’t really appeal to me. She saw through this and for some reason began to teach me basic application skills. I knew it wasn’t something that I’d envision myself doing, but I began to like it. I started to see how wrong I was in my judgment of makeup and cosmetics in general. Makeup wasn’t meant to make someone look like a clone of anyone; rather it became the definition of a whole different person. I became makeup obsessed, and that wasn’t the end of it. This experience allowed me to see that many things are never how they appear to be.
And it comes down to stopping and realizing who you are, and what surrounds you.
I felt the same way you did about makeup back when I started high school. I thought I would never wear makeup either until my friend did my makeup one day on a bus ride. do you still keep in contact with the person?
I also used to think make up was to materialize women and make them all look more similar. But after my first trial of Bobbi Brown make up I realised how it was not just to look more like “celebrities” but to allow people to express themselves, adding to their uniqueness and individualities. Although I don’t wear make up on a daily bases I still love to experiment and tryout new styles. I really liked your story and the object you wrote on:) Thanks for sharing such a thought provoking and heartfelt experience.
Yamel. I love you. You are beautiful no matter what. I liked your honesty and I feel your passion through your words. It’s an interesting story and shows your character development. Makeup is paint, but it is not just the surface of one’s skin. It’s a lot deeper than that.