Beauty as Art -- Why Wearing Makeup Should not be Shamed

Yesterday, I had the honor of attending and speaking at my company's Empower You training in Chicago, Illinois.  Our company sells "makeup," but what is becoming more and more evident to me, is that we are SHARING self-esteem and inner beauty through confidence and empowerment and fun.

Much controversy surrounds the makeup industry as a whole and women who choose to wear makeup.  I've found many women and men attempt to compliment women by telling them that they are beautiful that they do not "need" makeup.  However, I cannot help but sometimes feel this "compliment" is backhanded and attempt to be a dig, or suggestion that by wearing makeup one is somehow vain or a message that they NEED makeup to feel beautiful.  In my experience, vanity, perhaps is one of the LAST reasons a woman (or a man), will wear makeup.

I see makeup much like I see clothes and fashion -- it's an outward expression of who I am. It's an outward expression of how I feel.  I know I do not NEED it, but I like the way I feel when I play with colors and different textures and looks.

Case in point?  My maternity pictures.  I love how darker colors can literally make me feel more sophisticated and sexy, while lighter colors can make me feel fresh, innocent and pure.  It's fun for me. It's an artistic expression.

I love to draw. My favorite is pencil drawing and thicker oil paints. I love the contrast between black and white and all the shades of grey in between.  Then...the heavier textured acrylic paints add that vibrant pop of color that's so eye-catching and fun.

To me, fashion and makeup is ART. Yes. Art.  It's an adult color pallet that allows one to express her/himself in accordance to their terms and feelings.

Makeup is not insulin.  However, I want to suggest that it is a powerful medicine.  Through my 19 months of being in the "makeup industry," I have seen and heard from so many women, in so many different situations, that have shared that the simple act of putting on makeup -- of putting on a brave face in light of divorce, chemotherapy, loss, depression or whatever, is that ONE thing that helps them heal on the inside.  The simple act of feeling pretty on the OUTSIDE, somehow, impacts the way these women feel on the INSIDE. How can that be wrong?

My sister, currently undergoing chemotherapy, referred to putting on her makeup as an "anti-depressant."  I agree 100%. When I joined this company, it was the dead of winter in Central Illinois.  I had given up my career to raise my boys, but I had lost myself along the way.  I spent my days in my pajamas or in my "workout clothes" and I felt as though I was disappearing.  When I started my new business, I was forced to put on makeup because it was billboard, and then, interestingly, if my face was done, I somehow felt BETTER, put on REAL clothes and felt that I could literally face the world.

Our culture is so full of insecurity, shame, hatred and down-right meanness, why would we SHAME women for wanting to put their best face forward?  Why would we try to belittle or break them down for wanting to feel BEAUTIFUL, if only on the outside, because they are breaking on the inside?    Why would we want to PERPETUATE a culture that we say we are fighting (one that says we don't NEED make up to be or feel beautiful)?

I'm honored and proud to be doing what I do. I'm blessed to be making a small, but significant change in helping women feel that they are ENOUGH.  That yes, they are beautiful. That they can put on makeup, take a selfie, and share it with the world.  How empowering is it to get outside your comfort zone and be validated that you told those negative voices in your head to take a hike.  To see the "likes" on your selfie!!!

Beauty is in they eye of the beholder. Beauty SHOULD start from within, but sometimes, when we are broken, when life is moving beyond our control, or when our "femininity" is being taken from us, the simple act of putting on lipstick is all the armor we need to face the day and say: I'm ENOUGH.

If your true intent is to empower women, and to make them feel like validated, let them be.  If they want to wear makeup, compliment them.  If they choose not to wear makeup, compliment them.  But don't perpetuate the belittlement of women by attempting in a back-handed way to shame them or demean them for wanting or needing to express themselves. It may be their only defense in a world that has beaten them down.

I hope to raise my daughter in a way, where I ask myself if my comments, suggestions or "compliments" truly uplift, empower and validate her as a person. As a person that SHE choses to be!!