MANASVI SHARMA BAWA

What is beauty?

In a heart to heart chat with a friend who is also a makeup guru, I realised that for her beauty is not about proving a point. She is who she is… Liking makeup is a choice she made and putting in the effort to have a face full of makeup is something she enjoys. No, she doesn’t do it because she feels less of herself, she does it because she loves it. It’s as simple as that. Wow.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are people who do not wear any form of makeup because they just don’t want to. Some admit its because they never liked it and some say that they don’t know how to put on a full face of makeup. Fair enough. Wow.

This got me thinking…

Then there is the likes of me, I don’t wear a full face of makeup. A foundation was something I wore ONCE in my life and that was for my wedding day and I disliked every bit of it. I am on the middle WOW 1 and WOW 2.

A conundrum I’d say.

Time for a backstory to support this blog post; I have struggled with dark circles since I was 14 so I cannot blame age and stress to these raccoon eyes. But that need to cover them up with a whole load of kohl was very real in my teens all the way until last year! Raccoon eyes and smudgy kohl is a bad idea, I know, but trust me back in the day it seemed like the best.

I think I was one of those annoying people who even wore some amount of makeup while they sat at home doing nothing.

Then one day, I sat back and asked myself why I do that? Is it because I enjoy it or because I am hiding something I am not confident about. Sadly, it was the latter. I was doing it all for the wrong reasons.

And just like the time I chopped my hair off, I decided to ditch the outwardly things for a few days and focus on just being me.

Mind you, going out barefaced was traumatic the first time. I was very conscious. The fact that my formative years were spent in New Delhi did not help. Anyone who is from Delhi would understand the need to wear “some” form of makeup in Delhi. I don’t know why this is, but it just is.

So yes, it was traumatic but hey, you know what? No one cared. No one looked at me like I had been let off the cuckoo train and no one gave a rats bum. Guess who it was all along berating oneself? Me…

I was the soul villain of my story. The hater.

I was the manager of the “let’s feel crappy about myself” club and facing that truth was a bummer.

They say “Confidence breeds beauty” and I was clearly not confident.

So, this experiment taught me three things;

1. I looked okay with my raccoon eyes. Raccoons are adorable and so am I.
2. I will never have the “ideal bare face”.
3. No one gives a rats bum about what you put on your face and whoever does can do better things with their lives.
4. I loved lipsticks. And mascara. (God’s and beauty product creators magic wand)

I started out slow and then ventured into going in to work without an ounce of makeup on my face and that was quite something. I would recommend this cleansing to everyone atleast once in a month if not week.

What I did realise is my love for lipsticks was indeed true love and that my loving lipsticks don’t make me “risqué” or “loud” or a “slave to the beauty industry”. They just make me happy.

Seen below me in 2 very comfortable and different avatars;

By this point you must be wondering why even is this blog live? Well, here comes the moral of the story so brace yourself.

Judging someone based on their makeup or lack thereof is sheer stupidity. Beauty is NEVER defined by the notions of a few individuals. Beauty comes from the choice of being happy or sad. If you choose happy you are beautiful with or without makeup.

Gist of it guys, its to each his/her own.

The only thing I would say is that if you are doing it to make someone else happy (putting or stripping it off) you are doing it wrong. Create your standards and stand by them. Put on that black lipstick if you feel like it or go bare if you feel that is your pick of the day. Contour your face or let the second face emerge from the chin (mine does, I call her Frankie). You do you. Just never under pressure.

Bottom line, love yourself.

Until next time loves.

Stay Tangled. xx