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When did makeup become important to you?
When I was 18, I just fell in love, and I was looking for a hobby. It also helped me feel prettier–more normal, too–in a way I had not felt before (I had really low self-esteem in my teens and early 20s). At a certain point, it did make me feel ugly without it, but feeling that way served as a wakeup call that that wasn’t a healthy attitude toward myself nor to makeup. Now, it obviously gives me my livelihood, so it has been quite important for a long time!
— Christine
Around when I started reading your blog, 8 or 9 years ago. Come for the pretty colors, stay for the community. <3
I was really into makeup in my teens and early 20’s. I have mentioned on the blog before that I had a girlfriend in school whose mother worked at a very upscale drugstore in Orange County. Her mother was the cosmetologist behind the counter and she would always gift me samples of different products and makeup. I really got to play with some expensive products and really had a knack for doing my own makeup. I never went anywhere without a full face of makeup. I went to nursing school and started working night shift (graveyards x 22 years) and just out of sheer exhaustion I started doing less and less makeup. You know life gets in the way sometimes and between working, husband and a late in life baby I really kind of gave up on myself. Cancer came along and when I had completely recovered I started wearing a little makeup just to make myself feel better. Over the next couple of years after my remission I went through a divorce and was raising a daughter alone. Again I just did the minimum to get by and then my daughter became interested in makeup and she introduced me to YT beauty channels and blogs. For the past 6 years I have really found a new love and passion for makeup and the artistic outlet it provides.
Before I was even allowed to wear it out of the house! Yep, there is actually a picture of me wearing my Mom’s pricey, favorite lipstick all over my mouth and beyond as a toddler!
At 13, I was finally allowed. By which time, my acne in addition to having been mercilessly made fun of all during childhood for my looks had given me the ugly duckling complex: I had to have it on. I’m still not 100% comfortable going out without it, but at least I can now do so if *absolutely* necessary (as long as I’ll be in a vehicle with my huge shades on, that is!). At present, I’m at the tail end of an enormous 6-7 year binge of makeup, so perhaps I can finally rein in the pace and my spending (I seriously have enough for a few lifetimes!). But I will always ❤ makeup and the makeup community!
Pretty early. I had bad acne since I was 13, so at around 15 I was desperate for something to cover up. And I did acting at the same age, so painting my face became second nature. It has stuck with me ever since, but other than the acne it never affected my self-esteem.
Well, I’ve been using makeup on and off since I was ~16, there was a period when I only used high-end like Chanel and YSL, then there was a drugstore period where it was mostly L’Oréal and BeYu, but it was always utilitarian and minimal, like one blush, one foundation, no eyeshadow palettes, specific brushes, highlighters or bronzers, etc., etc. I always took seriously what I buy though.
Enter MAC to where I live (which was about 5 years ago). I bought foundation, then powder, then blush and…. I started researching, looking for the review videos on youtube to see whether or not I should by the product, etc. The rest is history. I got hooked, learned so much about makeup, about what is out there, how to use it properly and so on. Here I am now, totally into “what else can benefit my look” and “I don’t think I have a matching blush for this lipstick” stage 🙂 So I guess, not long ago, but totally love what I can do with makeup now and the entire process of learning about, getting it and using it.
Something along these lines 😉
I’ve been interested in makeup since my pre-teen years, but what truly made me fall in love with it was finding an online community to discuss, share and get tips from. Christine, your blog, as well as some OG YouTubers really inspired me to learn more about products, be creative, be strategic with my spending (!) and most of all have fun with makeup. XOXO
The earliest I remember is when I took a lipstick of my mom’s to kindergarten. My mom never really wore makeup but she always had lipstick and blush. I also had a sister who was 7 years older so I was envious of the makeup she could wear. Also I was over the moon when my grandmother gave me a red lipstick for my Halloween costume. I always sneaked a peek in her medicine cabinet to look at her makeup. She had many bottles of foundation, lipstick and nail polish. I was always intrigued. I wore makeup officially at 14, as a freshman in high school
In high school, Clinique. Bad case of acne. Girls in the all girls school were wearing makeup. So I got into it. Not to look older or more sophisticated, but just part of growing up. Didn’t want to be looking dramatic….just want to blend in. And my mother criticize me for everything, but she never criticize me for the use of cosmetics. Didn’t use a whole lot, but just had the basics….unlike these days with the fake lashes, the highlighters, the brushes, the ten million lipsticks I see.
My dad was stationed in Germany for three years and I was thirteen when we came back to the states. I always hung with girls at least two years older than myself so let them make me up at a sleepover. I was in love with my new self. I’ve been devoted ever since and I’m 58 now.
Hi Basbonbon! This is so cool of you to stay loyal to makeup for so long! I bet you look not a year older than 45 with all the skills you have learned 🙂 More than that, smth tells me that you are a person who can tell a lot about how makeup progressed, the trends, etc. Hope in more than 20 years you will still enjoy your makeup 🙂
Started wearing makeup because of curiosity, and because one of my best friend’s at the time was a master at it. Saw its power and got really curious. I started experimenting in college, and now I’m getting pretty skillful, I’m really happy about it.
Now I do feel like I need a bit of makeup on the daily because I don’t have much brow hairs and makeup helps a lot in that aspect.
I think it’s always been important to me. I’m in my 60’s but I can remember back to when I was in grade 7 or 8 buying my first lipstick – Cutex Peppermint Pink – and wearing it all the time. In my early teens, I remember the makeup ads in Seventeen magazine (mostly Revlon, Max Factor and Bonne Bell) and also pouring over the articles on makeup and hair, as well as fashion. Back in the days before the internet, I loved seeing the new Estee Lauder and Ultima II ads and buying a few new things every season or every few seasons (I always had a marked preference for anything Autumn!) but it was nowhere like what it is now and that is entirely due to the internet. I maybe had 5 eyeshadows and 2 or 3 palettes, 2 or 3 blushes, maybe 10 lipsticks/glosses and that was pretty much it.
Mariella, I am 55, so I can totally relate to all your youthful cosmetic influences. You have to remember Loves “Baby Soft”. Estee Lauder “Youth Dew” and “Cinnabar” remind me of my beautiful mother.
I sure do remember Love’s Baby Soft and, even more (because I wore it) Love’s Fresh Lemon. I also remember the commercials, with Donovan (or an impersonator) singing “Wear Your Love Like Heaven”. My mom wore Youth Dew (and also White Shoulders and – for the most special of special events – Joy, which had the cachet then of being the most expensive perfume in the world).
Makeup’s importance to me has waxed and waned over the course of my life…. as a child, my mom (who only wore lipstick to church on Sundays, and no makeup other than that!) always said things like “makeup will give you terrible skin” and “once you start wearing makeup, you won’t be able to stop,” which made makeup seem like a really exciting, yet forbidden thing!
In junior high school all my friends would bring their makeup to sleepovers and we’d do makeovers on each other – I always loved that and thought it was so fun. Eventually my friends kind of got over it, but I kept wanting to do makeup at sleepovers well into high school when no one else thought that was fun anymore!
Throughout my teen years and college I always enjoyed drugstore makeup… but three things happened in my early twenties that sent me down the deep-end:
1. A former intern of mine got a job working for Giorgio Armani Beauty, and she sent me a box of goodies – eyeshadows, blush, lip gloss, mascara – from the brand. Oh my gosh! Everything was so beautifully packaged and gorgeous on the face! I had no idea makeup could be so luxe.
2. A friend of mine gifted me a MAC foundation and concealer that weren’t her shade… again, enter the realization of just how good makeup can look and feel
3. Finally, Sephora accidentally sent me a Naked palette – I had ordered some hairspray or something, and lo and behold there’s a full palette I hadn’t ordered or paid for in the box. I kept it! It was so nice – my first eyeshadow palette that wasn’t from Elf or a drugstore brand. It’s still a favorite go-to.
Once I had experienced higher-end brands from those three happenings, I was hooked. I’ve been VIB Rouge every year since then (though I’m trying really hard NOT to achieve that in 2017). I got a little TOO into makeup for a while and was buying a lot of beautiful products that I truly didn’t need – so now I’ve entered a phase where I’m trying to ‘shop my stash’ more, enjoy what I have, and rediscover old favorites.
Makeup has always been important to me as long as I remember..I used to try and follow JH/xsparkage tutorials WAYYYYY back before Youtube was really a thing. It only really became a serious hobby (ahem…addiction lol) when I discovered Ulta, followed by Sephora, at 18. I was working a entry level job full time and finally had the money to buy higher-end makeup. And thus, my collection was born.
I was a late bloomer, if you will. I didn’t get into makeup until after college when I stumbled upon emilynoel83’s YouTube channel. Things kind of spiraled out of control from there.
Since I was 10 — I asked my mother about wearing mascara, she said no, I snuck some anyway. In my adult life, at first I had to be rather utilitarian for budget reasons. In the last 4-5 years, I can now afford to play a bit more, and had several ‘aha’ moments when I saw how much difference the perfect color or product can make in one’s look.
I’ve been into makeup since grade school, when my best friend and I would sneakily swipe on Maybelline baby blue eyeshadow and Yardley Slicker lipgloss while riding on the schoolbus in the morning.
As a teenager in the 1970s, I discovered the glory of Mary Quant cosmetics (oh, the colors! the packaging!) and rocked rainbow eyeshadow and glitter nails on a daily basis, much to my mom’s dismay!
I’ve pretty much been wearing full makeup ever since…with MAC, Laura Mercier, Estee Lauder, and Urban Decay taking the place of my old favorites (though I still love several Revlon Super Lustrous lipsticks).
Omg! MQ’s BOOK was the best. Lost it in my last move. Those were glorious makeup days. Betcha had Biba Blue Roses,
As a little girl, I loved playing dress up with my mother’s lipstick. In my teenage years, I fell in love with makeup for good. It was on and off mostly until my late twenties. Now I’m a proud, happy, unapologetic makeup lover.
I was always interested as a child and teenager; I loved the colors and possible combinations. I never got into really wearing it when I was younger though – I tried as a high school student when my mom took me to Clinique for prom makeup but I always felt self conscious even though most of my peers were wearing the same things. I wasn’t very feminine growing up. I didn’t start using anything regularly until my 30s while I was still in the Army. I came home from a deployment and after nothing but an ugly bun and men’s clothing in the dust for so long I was suddenly captivated by All the Pretty Things. Then I discovered online tutorials and really got into it because finally I had ideas for how to turn it into a creative outlet. I’ve weeded my collection way back down from its high water mark now that I’m learning what is or isn’t practical for my life but I had a lot of fun coming home and putting on neon and glitter to workout in my garage for those few years. These days I’m a bit more low key but I wear at least some makeup for work every day if I’m not sick because it’s fun for me.
When I was in the 7th grade! I “had” to start wearing face makeup early because I developed acne when I was 12 (boo), but I had so much fun matching my rainbow eyeshadow palette from Claire’s to my clothes! Not saying it looked good, but I loved to be able to express myself that way. In 8th grade I transitioned to wearing the same brown shadow every day because makeup became more about looking pretty, but as a Sophomore in high school I got back into being more experimental and trying new brands and I’ve loved it ever since! (Junior in college now). 🙂
I love this, Christine! For me, at 26. I discovered the magic of being able to choose eyebrow shape and lip color and not leave it to fate and circumstance! Haha.
I started wearing minimal make-up around 13 and stayed pretty minimalistic through college; mascara, a little foundation if needed, a touch of blush and sheer lip products. I’d say I got super into make-up when I left college and entered the workforce. That was also the same year I got married (the make-up relationship lasted longer than the marriage!), so I was doing a lot of test runs and trying to find my comfort zone for office looks, etc.
I can’t ever remember it not being important. My mother was a fashion model and painter before meeting my father, and she always had makeup around and wore it outside the house. I was always fascinated with the colors and packaging. Some of my few good childhood memories are of watching her do her makeup, and of being allowed to open and look at her colored products (with her supervision). Sometimes she’d put a little on me. 🙂 She was probably one of the few moms out there who wanted me to wear makeup at a young age. She was buying me cream blush and lipsticks by the time I was 11. I was wearing a full face by 14.
Rather late, when I was around 27. I wasn’t at all into beauty in my teens, and I only did very little makeup until that age (gloss, mascara, concealer and that’s about it, with a few vampy lip shades in the 90s!). It’s funny because my mom went to beauty school, but she never actually worked in the field and it hasn’t been an important part of her life.
I actually started my beauty journey with skincare. Basically I wasn’t happy with how my skin looked, so I started researching skincare the way that was popular at the time: on forums dedicated to beauty. I became very involved on one site called Beaute Test (in French, although I lived in Turkey at the time), and curiosity slowly pushed me to start reading the threads about makeup as well. There was really a group factor that quickly turned me into a collector. I learned a lot about techniques and products, but I also bought a lot of things just because they were the new cool kid of makeup products (granted, there were way fewer products being launched throughout the year at that time, so it was a lot easier to collect new ones).
I always thought that my interest for makeup would fade away like so many other hobbies that only entertained me for a few months or a couple years. But it’s now been over 10 and I still find makeup so fun and exciting!
So many ups and downs with makeup importance in my life ! I don’t recall being too obsessed by makeup until the last few years . We just didn’t have the array of products in the past that they have now – I grew up with Yardley, Max Factor & Cover Girl and that was about it . Did basic Powder, shadow, liner and lipstick . Then raising 3 children, I never had time to worry about makeup . Alas, now my kids are grown and I have free time . Combined with the incredible variety of great products out there now, you’ve got >>>> Obsession !
I have always loved makeup ever since I was 12 years old and pursed that interest from then onwards. I started purchasing better eye shadow palettes as soon as I discovered this website around 5 years ago. Since then my knowledge and application of skincare and makeup has improved dramatically. This is my favourite website and I really enjoy the Temptalia community as well.
What a great question! My earliest memory of makeup is when I was five years old. I remember putting on my mom’s makeup and how cute she thought it was. My mom was never into anything other than drugstore brands so I didn’t know there was anything else. Middle school was when I was finally allowed to wear makeup to school (I tried in 3rd grade but it was frowned upon; stupid school policy) so I’ve been wearing makeup in some capacity ever since. My daughter turned 15 late last year and it was her new interest in makeup that rekindled my own and it’s like I’ve been making up (no pun intended) for lost time! I even remembered how I wanted to be a makeup artist when I was 20, but got married and had kids instead. My (now ex) husband’s career was more important at the time (is what he told me). In the last six months I’ve learned about and purchased more makeup and brushes than I have in my whole life and I love it, it gives me purpose. I feel powerful and pretty when I wear it, and I don’t care what other people think.
I began wearing makeup when I was twelve years old when my mother gave me a makeup filled Caboodle for my birthday. It was all drugstore makeup. I have very fair skin and there was not any drugstore foundation remotely the shade of my skin. I feel like I looked like an oompa loompa. When I was sixteen years old I began saving my weekly so lunch money to go to the MAC counter at the local mall. I got $20 a week. I still remember the first item I bought from MAC was Oyster Girl lipglass. Then I got a job at a movie theatre across the street from the mall and would walk over to the MAC counter on my hour break (on double shifts) to peruse. I would buy one item at a time. I have fell more and more in love with makeup over the years. It is a release in my hectic life.
In grade school, i.e. 1958. I used my lunch money to buy cosmetics. I used to go to the 5 & 10 cents store (Woolworths) and buy white lipstick and blue Maybelline eye pencils, which I combined to make eye shadow. They had a pink lipstick there called Luvlee. And if I saved my money, I could be a refill for Revlon lipstick in a color called Nougat. I could not afford the case. I also had a set of stick eyeshadows in pastel colors. This was all before seventh grade Like others have mentioned, I had acne and needed something to cover it but I relied on tinted acne creams until sophomore year of high school, when I started to wear foundation, eyeliner and mascara. My mother wore make-up but we did not share products. The first powder blush (Revlon Blush-On) was introduced around 1964. Until then, I did not wear anything on my cheeks.
I gained weight in high school. I was ashamed; slenderess was expected in my family. So I bought a Clairol Make-Up Mirror w/ three light settings. Anyone remember? And I bought makeup, even expensive brands thanks to Mom’s store accounts. I remember experimenting for hours in that mirror. (Always subtle, because “well-bred girls” didn’t wear obvious makeup.) Lost the weight by senior yr., but remained fascinatined my skincare and color. Ended up a journalist and wrote beauty and health stories for magazines. Never realized the connection until this question appeared.
Possibly interest was also due to children’s theatre. Rode out of my village to Woolworth’s and bought my first l/s in fourth grade. (Surprised it wasn’t concealer. I needed it even then!) Wore it when I wanted, but generally in private. I was not restricted. My mum had good skin and wore only lipstick, as did her sister. None of my hs friends did….or do now, at pushing 70. I did have a pinky foundation and EA Candlelight Pink l/s and Revlon Blush On in hs, but only wore them for formal dances. HS, hell, we weren’t even allowed to wear pants! But there were a handful of Ronnie Spector cat eye types and beyond pale lips going on. Really started in college, with green liner and Aziza Clinging Vine mascara, yardley glimmericks, and Dior future beige lipstick were faves. The last because… double rofl at self, I did not feel old enough to wear red. Certainly have made up for that odd thought. You will pry my reds, browns, and darks from my cold, dead hands.
Oh geez as far back as I can remember. I have so many memories of watching my Gram getting ready to go out. I used to watch her put on her makeup. Then she’d let me have at her stash, lol. I couldn’t wait to grow up so I would be able to put on makeup to go out like my Gram. She’s the one who taught me the importance of good skin care (like washing your makeup off before bed) and just taking care of your body in general. She will always be my #1 beauty idol. She’s been gone almost 15 years and I still miss her everyday. She used to say “A little powder, a little paint, will make you look just what you ain’t”.
I started liking makeup when I was 26 years old. I was pregnant at the time and since I couldn’t really buy any clothes or shoes (I gained almost 40 pounds), I decided to start doing makeup. I never really cared about wearing makeup before then because I was a beach girl my whole life and was lucky enough to have ok skin so I never really felt like I needed it.
I watched YouTube videos and followed some bloggers so I could learn how to do it. I love it now and I wear it to go out and on special occasions but I am still very happy on my makeup free skin most days.
Most women in my family love makeup and all the upkeeping with clothing and style that goes along with it most are or were indeed beautiful women. I always enjoyed watching them get ready for special ocassions like parties especially as a child but it was until my last year of high school I started wearing simple eyeshadow, mascara and lipgloss no foundation, powder or real lipstick yet. I had my purple caboodle full of goodies. My mom introduced me to Clinique three steps skin care. Later at 40 when I started training for my very first marathon (10 of those crazy fun things up to now full 26.2) I felt like a man. Lots of hard, disciplined training but which I enjoyed with a huge group of friendly runners. I swear I thought i would either die or grow a mustache! Lol! In fact, the very first season I ended up treating myself to Anthroplogy and buying a couple of pretty skirts and then some in other places Anthropology is mighty expensive but I wanted to reward myself for the hard work. I love my time with my makeup it is very special to me. I don’t have much HE beauty only a few, the rest is all drugstore I love them all the same. I usually buy on impulse I fall for the colors, packaging, pure fun of seeing something new and giving it a try. I love it! My mom and daughter both love it also and we give each other goodies from time to time. I like seeing the excitement in my daughter’s face describing some beauty item or skin care we have fun discussing it all. Is fun to be a woman and have so many choices. I’m ‘cool’ pale skin never can tan just turn into a red lobster in 20 minutes of sun (I do wear spf do I have to!) so I have to apply everything with a light hand so I don’t look like a clown overdone but I do wear everything including highlighters which I have fallen head over heels for them! My best helpers I think are a slight bronzer, mascara and blush oh! that blush makes come to life from the vampire state. Lol! Lipstick always welcome! 🙂
I got into makeup when I was 28, when my sister, who lives in another country, started asking me to bring her Urban Decay and ABH products. I decided to check what she was all gaga about, and never looked back! Such a fun hobby.
Since I realised it could be fun and lift my mood
45 years ago at 18 and haven’t given up yet LOL. Always loved makeup and always will.
I was never really into makeup until I got sick at 23. I had some weird internalized sexism (definitely from my mom) about makeup being anti-feminist. And then I started feeling like crap, and feeling ugly, and tired, and just not even human after some of the doctors visits. I remember I was at a Shoppers Drug Mart of all places (I was living in Canada at the time) and I just thought “fu*k it, lets try some makeup”. It was nice to do something under the category of self care, and as I got better at it (freakishly fast!) I found it was great how a little bit of foundation and concealer could make me look like “myself” again. Then I fell down the rabbit hole of all things makeup and have been there ever since.
I’m an artist, mostly portraits but I loved to draw all my life. I never wore makeup, except occasionally cheap mascara & powder. Two years ago (I’m 35) I had my first child & have not been able to draw since. It is too hard to find the time & energy, & if I get out my materials she’d grab them. I was a stay at home mom, alone because my husband was working out of state. I was breastfeeding so I spent lots of time on the internet. It seemed like makeup techniques were getting better. I finally saw it as the art form that it is. It kind of hit me, that this is art too & I was surprised I’d never realized I could’ve been making art on my face this whole time. I also had an old friend who was cute, when I saw her a few years later she was beautiful. She’d started wearing makeup & looked incredible. So I started researching, swatching, buying & practicing. I went to Ulta & got a makeover. I bought my fist high end products. I discovered an obsession for purple lipstick & gold highlighters, now I love the pink & purple highlighters lol. Now I love getting the chance to put on makeup. My daughter loves it too. I give her brushes & things to play with while I put mine on. She loves for me to swatch things on her hand.
It’s been so long ago I can’t remember when I first started wearing makeup but I have loved it and worn it since then! I was young – maybe 13? I’m not sure. I started with eyeliner on my waterline. A friend’s sister showed me how to do that and once I looked in the mirror I was completely hooked! My eyes popped! They were so pretty! I have never gone through a period of not wearing make up since then. It makes me feel like I am putting my best version of ‘me’ forward. Makeup brightens and adds color. I absolutely love it!
I started wearing makeup at 14 just because my friends used makeup. After that it started to be a passion and a hobbie that I love. When I was almost 16 I stopped wearing makeup because I went through ruff times, but at 18 I started wearing makeup again. Now makeup means a lot to me, my self esteem is low but when I wear makeup I feel so pretty! And still is a hobbie, I love talking about makeup! Also is something that keeps me entertained to not think about some problems that I had and I’m having at the moment.
carolinasmakeuplife.blogspot.pt
I always loved to have my makeup on and how to apply them according to my facial structures, but til my mid 30s i still get pimples or acne in some points, ended up to have post acne scarring/enalrged pores (i mean suuuper) lately my breakout seems tame and very rarely to have esp pre menstrual… but the problem now is how to make my super pores less visible….
You know how everyone always feels sorry for those little pageant kids, because they have to wear makeup and don’t want to? I would have loved everything about that. Sadly, my mom wasn’t into any of that glamour stuff. She had a couple of bright lipsticks, and orange and a fuschia called Butterfly Pink that I coveted, but that’s about it.
I’ve always been super into it, although there have definitely been days I don’t feel like wearing it. As long as I remember, though, most of my discretionary income has gone to makeup. Close second: clothes.