Convo Over Coffee: Beauty Isn’t Frivolous
It’s no secret that I am passionate about beauty and skincare. A significant portion of my blog content is focused on products and how they work, products that work for my skin tone and type, product reviews, and other general facts about beauty and skincare, which I find helpful to share.
My journey and relationship with the whole realm of beauty started in the most ironic way. Growing up in my teens and twenties, I was that girl who found all things related to makeup and skincare a waste of time. Face wash, moisturiser, and blue eyeliner. I could be ready to go in 5 minutes any given moment of the day. If you know me now, then you know the irony of that statement because today I am so particular about spending the 5-7 minutes daily on my skincare routine (yes, it’s a multi-step routine with a beginning, middle and end!) and 10 minutes for my everyday makeup. I will never skip a single step if I don’t have to.
And if I have to wear makeup for an event, well then, I suggest you grab a snack and get comfy because I have a process: I plan my look in advance based on the time of day, what I’m wearing, and the undertones of my skin, outfits and accessories; then I will take out the products I want to use; and, finally, I put on some music and settle in for 30-45 minutes of applying my makeup. I know. I KNOW. It sounds so….unnecessary, right?
So what changed? How did I go from my blue eyeliner-wearing, get-out-the-house-in-5-mins days to creating a full hour-long performance of makeup application?
It all started with an argument with my mom. I was newly engaged and had an engagement party coming up. My mom said “You’ll need to get a makeup artist to do your hair and makeup. Have you found one?”. I just stared at her. A makeup artist? She wants me to pay someone to put makeup on my face? What a waste of money! So I told her “I’ll do it myself. I’m not paying someone to do my makeup”. She just looked at me and said “You have no idea how to do your makeup and why do you want to stress about how you look on such an important occasion?”. I tried arguing some more and my mom told me to quit being so stubborn and take her advice. And, of course, moms always know best. I am so glad I listened to her because I don’t think face wash, moisturiser and blue eyeliner would have cut it. 😛
I got married a few months later and watching the makeup artist work her skills and artistry to transform my face was mesmerising. She had a whole process from the way she laid out her tools to prepping my skin to taking a few minutes to just look at my outfit’s colours to plan her look (see the photos below for some of my favourite looks from my wedding :)). I realised in that moment my attitude towards beauty resulted from a combination of my ignorance and feelings of insecurity and overwhelm from not knowing how to use beauty products properly.
It’s been almost a decade since my wedding and I still remember the joy and confidence I felt during that time. My soul felt happy. I wanted to feel like that all the time. It wasn’t about looking pretty; it was about being in control of my self-confidence and happiness. I spent a lot of time with my makeup artist during my wedding getting ready, waiting for events to start, doing outfit changes and makeup touch ups, and, naturally, we got to talking and I asked her lots of questions about what she was doing and why as she worked her magic on my face. A whole new world was opening up to me and I was curious to learn everything I could about it.
Not too long after I fell down the rabbit hole of YouTube beauty tutorials, watching video after video on “How To Do A Smoky Eye” (IYKYK). It was the trending makeup look of the early 2010s and I was determined to master it. I bought some new makeup and started experimenting with it whenever I could and took photos to see how I did (looking back it was not good haha). I also went to events with unblended eyeshadow and foundation that was way too light for my skin. Hello, flash back. But I didn’t care because I felt so good about the fact that I was trying things I had never even thought possible for me and I was sure with practice I could figure it out.
Watching YouTube videos is still a guilty pleasure for me. I love seeing the artistry in how the products and tools are used to “paint a blank canvas”. I am addicted to seeing the whole process, the techniques, and the final outcome (it’s like watching the makeover episodes in reality shows like America’s Next Top Model — I lived for those episodes). I get so much joy from practicing and mastering the techniques on myself. I also find it very calming and therapeutic because I get lost in the whole process.
Over the years I have honed my skills and figured out what works and what doesn’t. Armed with all the knowledge I now have about beauty products, how to use them, and which ones do and do not work for my skin tone has been — at the risk of sounding very, very dramatic — life-changing and empowering. I no longer feel scared or unworthy of wearing makeup and looking / feeling my best. Feeling beautiful and confident is not reserved for the pretty, popular girls and boys. Each and every one of us deserves to feel this way every single day.
Beauty is far from frivolous. You should see my vanity. The daily guided tours are at 8AM and 8PM. Don’t forget to sign up 😛