The Truth about Natural Beauty

We wear makeup for lots of reasons: it enhances natural features, disguises blemishes, it's fun, and it can make us feel good, among other things.

Despite the laundry list of reasons for wearing makeup that I'm sure we could collectively come up with, I worry that, too often, there's an emphasis on covering up, on creating features we don't have but wish we did, on trying to craft ourselves into some idealized view of beauty.

If we step back, do we really think these daily transformations make us more beautiful? How much of our desire to wear face-fuls of makeup is because everyone else is doing it? If 98% of the women around you didn't wear makeup, would you still feel the need to?

My issue with makeup is when we use it because we think we need it to be beautiful, or simply to go out in public. 

My issue isn't with makeup itself – I make it because I love it. It really is lots of fun. My issue with makeup is when we use it because we think we need it to be beautiful, or simply to go out in public. We don't, and we need to stop telling ourselves that we do.

You might think it's easy – but untrue – to say that we all have our own, special, natural beauty, but I really mean it, and think that opinions to the contrary are a matter of perspective.

Since leaving glamorous Los Angeles for little Vashon Island over a year ago, I've seen a lot more of my naked face. And you know what? I've grown to be more comfortable with, and to love and appreciate that girl in the mirror, which makes me think that wearing makeup versus not wearing it is just like that friend of yours who's worn glasses for years and finally gets contacts: It's weird for a while, and then, suddenly, it's totally normal and life goes on.

Is it possible that we're afraid to show our natural beauty because we ourselves aren't used to seeing it?

It may be cliché, but that's because it's true: Beauty starts from the inside with our health, how we feel, and how we greet the world.

I'm not saying abandon your makeup routine, but let's try wearing less. You never know - you might like what you see!

I challenge all of us to reframe the way we see makeup: instead of thinking of our makeup bags as tools for covering up, let's see them as means for showing off! Here's to embracing and celebrating our natural beauty!

Shine on, gorgeous.