I am never wearing makeup ever again.
I used to wear makeup every single day. In fact, I felt ugly without it. I used to be extremely overweight, so makeup was the only thing that made me feel better, made me feel more feminine.
But now I am sick of it. I will never wear makeup again.
First of all, it's for my health. Look, I don't know exactly what's in these products, but I know makeup used to contain arsenic and other harmful substances that have now been outlawed. Who's to say the stuff we're using now won't be on that list in twenty years? I just don't want to take the risk anymore.
Second, it was actually messing up my skin. I used to wear a lot of concealer, and my under-eyes started feeling very dry with a lot of darkness. It never used to be like this! When I stopped wearing concealer, my under-eyes cleared up tremendously. I don't care if that's just my experience. it's my experience, and it was real. Now I feel beautiful without it, even though I'm genetically predisposed to have undereye circles. If you look at beauty YouTubers without makeup, you can just tell they wear a lot of it. I don't know how to explain it further, but just look at them! Their skin looks different.
The third reason is that makeup feels patriarchal to me. Why do men not wear makeup, and I have to wear it? I'm simply not going to do things men aren't expected to do. If they want me to beautify myself, they should be expected to do the same thing for me. And makeup pushes this one intensified version of femininity: red lips, higher contrast, elongated eyelashes. I do not have long eyelashes, and I do not want to fake it using mascara. I am okay with my features the way they are.
The fourth reason is the texture. I hate the texture of makeup. Just simply having something on your face is uncomfortable.
Now, I get it. I don't live on Mars. I get that beauty privilege is a thing and aging is a thing, but I honestly feel more beautiful than ever just exercising, eating healthy, and stopping makeup products. I use oils on my skin and tinted oils for my lips and I honestly feel more beautiful than ever.
I look awake and truthful to myself, and more importantly, I just feel like me without any sort of fakery or deception.