Do you wear makeup? If so, you’re not alone!
Makeup is one of the first loves of my life. I first discovered it when I was 17 or so and the rest is history. I went through several phases in the course of my makeup adventures, from experimenting with shimmer to dabbling in professional makeup artistry. Though you won’t see me lugging around my makeup artist train case anytime in the near future (save for the occasional stage production), I still use makeup quite often!
Here are my top 10 reasons for women to use makeup so much. It’s purely for laughs (with some truth in it), so don’t take it too seriously!
1. Cover up blemishes.
The Number One reason most women buy cosmetic pouches is that we need something to put our concealors in! Not everyone has great skin – me included – so things like acne, scars, freckles, sun spots, wrinkles and white heads bother us. Makeup is a quick fix for sure, even though it doesn’t always solve the root of the problem. If we suffer from skin conditions like rosacea or vitiligo, makeup helps to even out the skin tone, and we don’t feel so self-conscious when having conversations with others.
2. We feel lousy.
Sometimes we get up from the wrong side of bed. There are days when everything just seems to go wrong, or when things happen to pile up and finally something snaps and all hell breaks lose. The one thing that can make it more bearable is to know that at least we don’t look as horrible as we feel. That’s why we have our go-to lip colour or favourite “Power Combo Look,” such as the understated cat eye-and-mascara to let everyone know that, at least, we still have our dignity.
3. We’re going on a date!
Especially if it’s a first date. You have no idea how much thought goes into planning our entire outfit, from the texture of our dress (Or would a white crepe top with a tulle skirt be more suitable for an outdoor movie date?) to the colour of our eyeliner! First dates are the reasons best friends stick around with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, while being your handy assistants in ravaging your closet and dresser. The powder room is now a girls’ hang-out home bar.
4. It’s part of our skincare routine.
As any beauty aficionado will tell you, skincare doesn’t stop at cleansing and moisturising. For some of us, we take it a step further by completing the routine with makeup. This is especially true for those of us who swear by sunblock or any kind of shield from environmental pollution.
5. We’re getting our picture taken.
The occasions are aplenty. Prom, dinner and dance, tea with friends and even a cousin’s baby shower. How can we look like a train wreck when it’s supposed to be our longtime buddy’s birthday bash? That said, check out my guide on creating a fresh faced look here.
6. Look our age.
It’s nice to get ID-ed every once in a while, but what’s not cool is to have people thinking you’re 18 when you’re really 25. There’re tons of tips and tricks out there to teach you how to look younger, but few to teach you how to look older (which can be a good thing, especially for us petite folks). Makeup allows us to look our age when we need to, so that people take us seriously and actually pay attention to what we’re saying.
7. It’s part of a look!
Hey, guess what? Halloween’s coming! And the thing about festivals like this is that we absolutely, 100%, without-a-doubt need makeup to create and complete a certain look, which, hopefully, will garner us enough attention and awe to get free entry into clubs. Makeup in exchange for free beer? I say, yes please!
8. We scored a deal.
I don’t mean a business deal, though, yes, that can be a reason to bring out the Shu Uemura Lash Bar purchase on Friday night. I mean getting makeup at a discounted price or during a promotion so good we couldn’t let it pass. Like the extra 25% off our ASOS purchase coupon code at Cuponation. Add to that irresistible product packaging and we’re sold.
9. Just for fun.
Or to show off our skills and create a portfolio. This can’t be truer for makeup artists and beauty bloggers, who wear our skills – and therefore, credibility – on our faces. Sometimes, we wear makeup just because. Because we feel like it. Because when doing our hair, that lipstick just happened to be within our reach. Because we got bored one weekend and wanted to see who we could transform ourselves into. Now bring out that contour palette!
10. We’re going on a date!
I know this seems to be a repeat of Point Number 3, but it’s really for a different reason altogether. How many of us go on dates and don’t really want to commit until we’re surer of who we’re hanging out with? By commit, I actually mean to have some form of intimate contact like k-i-s-s-i-n-g (recalls a poem we learnt as kids of two people sitting on a tree). So here comes my favourite way to civically and indirectly tell the guy to wait: Having lip gloss on – or a cute pink shimmer lipstick – really deters the guy from trying to smooch when we aren’t ready for it.
So there you have it, my top 10 reasons for putting on makeup. Do you have any other reasons to wear makeup? What about reasons for not using makeup? Let us know in the comments section below!
Image credit: Popsugar