The power of makeup, the power of YOU

Today was one of those days where my Facebook timeline was filled with interesting articles and links to explore and having a free afternoon meant I was able to catch up on some of the things that are going on around the world.

I stumbled upon this article about Colbie Caillat's new song 'Try' all about embracing yourself, finding confidence with your natural appearance and featured a series of beautiful women removing their makeup and revealing their bare faces.

Earlier this year the #nomakeupselfie phenomenon swept over Facebook and saw lots of people taking selfies without makeup, apparently raising awareness for cancer. While the debate of whether selfies are real activism or effective in any way is a different issue, there is this idea that going without makeup is 'brave'.

I absolutely believe promoting confidence and self love for everyone is really important however, I resent these types of campaigns because I don't want to be told what the best way to feel beautiful is. Of course if you check out the comments there are lots of "they all looked better without makeup" and "women are always more beautiful without heaps of makeup" which just makes me want to scream!

The idea that makeup is used to trick people or hide your real appearance is ridiculous. I use makeup as a form of expression. For me, putting on my makeup and creating a look is such a fun, creative experience and a skill that I am constantly looking to improve (because I'm a perfectionist not because I'm trying to cover my face!)

I try to be confident within myself because I know there are things I am good at, I want to value and take care of myself and also because I know I deserve to be happy. This is what makes me confident and I think that promotion of a more whole approach to self confidence is so much more important than pushing people to be 'brave' and take of their makeup.

We live in a society where women are told to meet certain expectations. Whether we are consciously aware of this or not, it is part of an inherent culture and we see it not only in the media - the obvious culprit, but within our education system and workforce, our social interactions and family structures. I am a true believer of not expecting any person to behave a certain way and in that way I resent these types of campaigns telling me to take off my makeup. I love wearing makeup and that's my choice and whatever you want to wear should be your choice too. You have the power to define your own beauty and how you want to present that.

I was happy to find this video on Tumblr which sums up what I believe about self confidence in a humorous way and is guaranteed to make you smile.

I hope this post made you think about the way we promote self confidence.

xx Catherine

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