Little House of Ady

Hello everyone! How are you today? Today, I would like to talk to you about something I quite rarely talk about, aka makeup. Actually I happen not to wear makeup at all (well, just once or twice a year), and that’s the case for a few years now. You may be wondering: why ? Let me tell you first my story with makeup, then I’ll give you some of my reasons.

Let’s get started !

#Junior high-school time, banning makeup time

The starting point, if I may say that, is during my teenage years. Usually this time is when young girls start to get acquainted with makeup products, I think it’s usually lipstick. It hasn’t really been the case for me, since makeup was forbidden in my junior high-school and since my mom didn’t push me into this outside of school. Don’t get me wrong, she still educated me about keeping my skin healthy and clean. She didn’t give me lots of makeup to hide my acnea or else, but she did introduce me to face lotion, to clean my face and erase the inevitable acnea. I remember the name written on the lotion bottle was “Precious Water”. I wasn’t familiar with makeup, even if I knew it existed, but I was familiar with that face cleaning product.

This way, I grew up during my teen years without feeling the need of using makeup, I grew up with my natural face. Unlike many girls/women who cannot get outside without any makeup, I have absolutely no problem going outside, among people, with nothing on my face. We can say that I didn’t geta addicted to makeup in the means that people won’t get shocked by my natural face since they’re used to see it.

The first real encounter with makeup for me was when I got 14. It was the end of junior high school and prom day. For the occasion, my mom sewed me a beautiful rapsberry-colored prom dress, and I got to wear makeup. I would say it wasn’t the most pleasant first encounter for me since it was lipstick and mascara, and my mom did put the mascara on me. What was the problem ? I cannot stand anything coming closer to my eyes, so I cannot get makeup from anyone else, I have to put it myself. And this time, I was in a chair, face against the ceiling and I would see the mascara brush coming on my eyes. Nightmare, it made my cry and my mom scolded me, arguing that my cousin could wear mascara everyday without any problem at all…

It wasn’t love at first sight. However…

#Senior high-school time, taming makeup time

The first meeting with makeup wasn’t really a success, but still during my 3 senior high-school years, I tried to know a little bit more about makeup. I would have a shy attitude towards it and settle for simple makeup looks: a bit of concealer under the eyes, some light pink eyeshadow, a bit of mascara (putting it myself did reconcile both of us) and some light lipstick. But still I was very lazy at this, since I didn’t get used to it sooner. I was trying to do like other girls, without being that much convinced.

#University time, time of simple habits, laziness and giving up

I stayed with these simple makeup looks for a few more years, after graduating from high-school and going to university. I even got to learn a few things, thanks to the friends I made back in the days. I got better at doing my simple looks and even introduced myself with eyeliner.

But even if I was getting better techniques, I still wasn’t falling in absolute love with makeup. It still represented to me lost time, less time for sleeping in the morning, less time for breakfast… And some days, I would be too lazy to put makeup on and go to class with my natural face, the old-fashioned way.

As years went by, I got more work at university, I got more tired and lazier about makeup. My mental health issues would in the end add their share. The simple makeup look I’ve settled for, aka the panda makeup (hiding my eyebags and purple veins around the eyes with concealer under the eyes and nude eyeshadow, and a bit of black eyeliner and mascara) would step by step get left behind.

And eventually, I stopped wearing makeup and kept it only for special occasion, when I wanted to feel “pretty”. I could live very well with my natural and bare face and show it to everyone. I’ve never felt ashamed about it. So I kinda let go makeup. It wasn’t that much for me.

This is the current situation, I wear makeup only for special occasion, Christmas, family gatherings and so on, which means makeup only once, twice, or even thrice a year. And for these occasions, I would always go with the same panda look, very neutral, basically hiding my skin flaws around the eyes and emphazing my hazelnut eyes with some black eyeliner and mascara. The goal is to feel as natural as possible. If I had no eyebags, no purple veins seen through my eyelids, I wouldn’t bother using concealer and neutral eyeshadow. I would just go for the emphazing step.

And for the rest of the year, I live without makeup, I go to work with my natural face and it’s perfectly all right.

#Why I won’t change anything about it

Things will stay this way for many reasons. First, I got used to it and I know I don’t need makeup to live. All these years were like an experiment, a test. I experimented makeup, to understand what it was, what it meant, what to use it for. I tried to see if it was for me. It was like a lesson. And now I know; it’s not for me, it’s not a vital thing for me. I can live without makeup, I can be happy, content without makeup. I’m not saying it should be like this for everyone, that women daily using makeups are wrong. It is their choice, and as long as it’s their own choice and they don’t force it on me, it’s absolutely fine. An harmonious society isn’t a society where everyone does and thinks the same, but where everyone respects others doing and thinking may it be the same or different.

For me makeup is something superficial, it belongs to this world of superficial, not vital things. It doesn’t belong to the world of spiritual values I’m looking for. I do not wish for a superficial life, filled with material things only. I wish another kind of life, about the earth, about lifting up one’s spirit. I don’t want a city life, a bustling life, a successful career, a wealthy life. No. What I really want is a quite life, a natural life, a spiritual life, a life spent into teaching children about the love of God, the love of Nature, about History, about gardening, about cooking, about meditating, about loving, caring and sharing. This is what I really want. And makeup reflects that wish of mine.

This is what concludes my story with makeup and how I ended up with this lifestyle choice. I hope you found this testimony interesting/useful.

Thank you for passsing by and reading my blog. Your support, even silent, is always valuable to me and brings me more joy than you can imagine.

I’ll talk to you soon in  a next post.

Until then, take care of yourself ❤

Ady ❤