The Art Of How I Became Fascinated By Makeup

Growing up, makeup was not really my biggest interest. I thought to myself, “Why is my mother putting on makeup when she already is pretty?” I did get a makeup kit for my birthday from a classmate. I was very grateful; however, I remember being worried about getting into trouble for using it.

One summer in middle school, my siblings and I decided to put on a little show where we danced along to music. My sister kept trying to put eyeliner on me, which was hard as I kept blinking my eye shut at the thought of having the liner touch my eye. Instead, she decided to put eyeshadow on me, which I think is the reason I have literally dozens of eyeshadows on my person.

Then came my eighth grade farewell party (which is an event my middle school hosted at the end of the school year to send the students off to high school). My mother did my makeup, she put on a really pretty pink lipstick on me as well as some mascara. That was the evening I fell in love with mascara.

I almost never wore any makeup in high school. The only time I wore makeup as a high schooler was when I was going to attend a dance. That was literally it. I would never get out of bed in the morning to apply makeup for school, I felt naturally gorgeous without it.

Starting college changed all that. I got a concealer crayon, then mentioned I wanted to do something about the redness in my cheeks. Before long I had foundation, too. I will remember one of the first eyeshadow palettes I got, the ELF Cosmetics Nude Rose Gold palette, for a very long time to come.

I did my makeup by myself for the first time on Valentine’s Day 2017. I remember sending a photo of my makeup job to my sister and I said that an elementary schooler would do a better job than me. She said I did fine.

There was nowhere for me to go but up. I once applied layers of every color of my rose gold palette and sent the photo to my sister. Her response? She was impressed and mentioned she thought of my application of the shadows as pristine.

When it came to makeup I was highly superstitious at one point. I made sure to wear a burgundy/brown shadow and mascara during the World Series to ensure the team I was pulling for performed well. The team did well, so it was worth it.

Then came late 2017/early 2018. Along came blush, which came with my “Welcome to Sephora’s Beauty Insider!” gift. I fell in love with it, and soon enough, it was part of my makeup kit.

Before I knew it, I loved being in makeup stores. Being in Ulta Beauty and Sephora was the key to making the day a happy one. A couple of years ago, I finally decided to become a Beauty Insider with Sephora. Just a few years earlier, I never would have thought to do that under any circumstances. In 2018, I signed up with Ulta’s e-program. It’s fascinating how I went from not wanting anything to do with makeup to having several different varieties of my favorite cosmetics.

Learning how to do makeup was a process for me. When I first started out, I was insane about highlighter application. I would not only apply it to my cheeks, but also to my nose and all over my forehead. I now know that that’s excessive.

In addition, I had to learn how to make my eyeshadow look not excessive. Thank goodness for eye crease brushes, because my hooded eyelids need those desperately. A few years ago, I would have been frightened at the thought of eyelash curlers. Thanks to YouTube tutorials and self-reassurance, they’re second nature.

I just recently began learning the art of applying bronzer to my face. The first time I wore it, my mother was beyond impressed. I’m still learning how to apply it, and I’m also still learning the art of eyeliner. Eyeliner isn’t my best or easiest, but I still am willing to learn the technique.

Now don’t get me wrong. I still love my natural, no-makeup face. In fact, 97.6 percent of the time, maybe even more than that, I go without a single trace of makeup on my face. Every once in a while, when I’m feeling the mood, I will put on makeup.

Most of the time, makeup is for important events, such as graduation or a performance. Sometimes, I’ll wear it to look cute. However, I mostly go with my absolute natural look. Whether natural or makeup, I feel very beautiful. I am passionate about learning makeup and can’t wait to see where this new interest takes me.