Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Makeup Conclusion: Less is More


Today marks the end of my makeup experiment. So: Natural vs Makeup? It consisted of wearing makeup everyday for a week, and seeing how I felt at the end of it. I have to admit that I really got back into the habit of putting on makeup every morning rather quickly. I became more used to putting everything on than I did when I first started the experiment. I also noticed that once I got more into it, I’d experiment more, or use different colours.

There’s one thing I would have changed about my experiment had I had the time. For one, my mom would sometimes take my face in her hands and say, “Are you wearing any makeup?” She suggested I actually wear a lot of makeup and see how that goes, but I didn’t feel entirely comfortable doing so. She didn’t think I had put on enough, so I would try putting on a little more next time.

Honestly I don’t even think it was a very noticeable change. When I explained my experiment to two guy friends, both gave me blank stares. The makeup wasn’t showing enough for it to be a big change. My dad and brother hadn’t noticed a difference either, and I hadn’t seen my boyfriend enough this week for him to see it and compare, but I’m willing to bet he wouldn’t have noticed anything. It’s a guy thing, you see.

Putting on a face every day was a bit of a chore, but I was surprisingly dedicated to not skipping a day. Even on the days where I wouldn’t feel well, I’d still put on something. I guess in some ways getting dolled up is kind of fun; I felt cute, nothing special, but a little different. I was also able to put my guilt aside about feeling shallow for wearing makeup, rationalizing that it was actually for school, for an experiment. I also think I noticed that people would look at me when they spoke to me instead of away. I’m saying that I think I did because it’s possible that this has always been the case but that I just felt as though they did because I had stuff plastered to my face. There have been no big behavioural changes on my part, nor on that of the people I have dealt with as of late (that I noticed).

Taking off the makeup was more annoying than putting it on. I had to use makeup remover stuff, which was really thick, and I just scrapped everything off. Even then, though, there would be remnants of mascara that would stay stuck to my eyes and I couldn’t get it off properly. It would also prevent me from going to bed right away; I had to be responsible and take everything off so my eyelids wouldn’t be glued together the next morning.

Overall, I did not notice a big difference. I was a nice little challenge but that’s about the extent of things. I maybe felt as though people listened to me more, but I only think it’s because I had my experiment on my mind and thought I could notice more. I’ve come to realize that makeup doesn’t really mean much to me, nor do I have much interest in it.
The image is from Google, and it was for Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty.

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