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Temptalia Asks You - When did you first get into makeup?

When did you first get into makeup? When did you become full fledged beauty junkie?

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Just after I turned 18, actually! I pretty much fell in love thereafter, so I was probably just around the same age when I became an addict!
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68 Comments

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randi Avatar

I realllly started getting into it in 7th grade, whatever age I was then, around 12 or 13?.
My seventh grade volleyball picture involves full face make up, including a nudish lipstick with significantly darker lip liner. I now know better lol!

..amy.. Avatar

I never wore makeup till high school and then it was only eyeliner and lipstick maybe a lil powder sometimes never had n e 1 to show me how to do it since then I’ve put more overtime and since finding youtube vids I’ve gotten bolder and LOVE makeup its fun

BeautyBitch Avatar

12. I saved some of my meagre pocket money for weeks and splurged on a lilac Rimmel liquid eyeliner, a sky blue Maxi-lash mascara and a fuchsia Collection 2000 nail varnish. My first haul! Unfortunately the eyeliner was a bad buy and ended up going rancid and solid within 3 months of buying, but that didn’t stop me.

I was 14 when I got my first MAC: Twig lipstick and Haze eyeshadow. (I’ve still got the Haze and treasure it!)

charlieee Avatar

Around March 2007, I was 19 and a freshman in uni. i knew the basics of makeup but was not into it at all. but yeah i got really bored at night and found some makeup videos on youtube! and the love affair begins… LOL.

fks Avatar

Around 11, when I was in class 7 and living in India. My parents very generously allowed me to buy the Max Factor collection of eye shadows, even though my father humerously pointed out that only cassowarys can have blue eyelids. Yes, it was the 1970s… I still have all of the original max factor eyeshadows from the 1970s, though obviously it may not be safe to use them now. Strangely enough, I lost interest in makeup during my college days, and never ever wore the stuff to class.
It was another two decades before I started buying makeup again.

Kristina Avatar

I started wearing makeup when I was in 8th grade. I just slapped on some eyeshadow before going to school lol. I really started learning how to wear it properly when I was in 10th grade.

vicky Avatar

I got ma first eyeshadow palette when I was 10, but I was too shy to wear it in school;) I was 12 when I was confident enough to wear it allday. I also introduced some of my friends to makeup. even though their parents didn’t like me for doing that;)

DJ Avatar

when I was 5! I was obsessed with my mother’s makeup and perfume. My aunt gave me one of her old lip glosses when I was that age, I also had the ‘Barbie head’ that came with makeup etc.

My mom let me start wearing makeup when I was 11, lip gloss and mascara only. I had to promise to wash my face in the morning and at night if I wanted to wear it. So, she took me to Clinique and I got my 3-step program.

I still take excellent care of my skin, but I don’t wear much makeup anymore. I still love it, though. So does my mom.

Brenda Avatar

I was 5 as well!!! My mom let me play with her old makeup and I used to torture my little sister when I was around 8. I remember sneaking a matte red lipstick to school and trying it on all my friends. I’ve been into makeup almost my whole life…I’m 30 now 🙂

Emm Avatar

Honestly I loved makeup when I was 10, my Mom’s estee lauder collection was fun to play with. I was never the makeup person in high school, only concealer for my pimples. I didn’t become a true addict till a few years after college so 23ish.

hi Avatar

LOL! Me too! When I was 12, I started wearing mascara and eyeliner. I was using my mom’s mascara though, – and using it as a liquid liner, eek! I looked WEIRD.. – and the only reason she bought me my first mascara was to prevent me from using hers! She has a medical degree, and she didn’t want me to get a bacterial eye infection from sharing eye makeup. 😉

Nathalie Avatar

What an interesting question!

I have that very clear memories of make up. When I was 5 or 6, I swore I would never put blue to my eyes (for some reason the sole option for eye make up was wearing a matte grey blue to me – probably because I remember seeing my mum made up this way – she was only making up occasionally) because I was liking the color of my eyes (dark blue grey circle on the outside, grey green inside and warm yellow near the center). My mother had few make up but some anyway and like any little girl, I was loving going through her stash and make a mess of it. She was of course shouting at me, although she wasn’t making up anymore. But it didn’t prevent me to still ove make up. As a teenager, I started to get attracted by glamour look: red lips, black eyeliner, falsies, pale face. I discovered that there was not only the blue for the eyes!

When I was 14, I passed an afternoon at the home of a friend of mine, she played putting black eyeliner on my eyes because she was finding them very pretty. I also found it was great (first time I was finding myself pretty!) and kept this for later in the corner of my head. When I was 17 I bought my first black khol. Wearing it was very occasional. That was just a line on my waterline but I was always getting so much compliments… But I was feeling still very shy about all this. I really started to make up when I was 18 (foundation, red lipstick, mascara, eyeliner). In an ankward way but make up anyway. I can’t believe I was so shy about make up and that the first lipstick I wore were blood red! At 19/20 I started the black smokey eye (inspiring myself of Pamela Anderson’s smokey!!!), softened the lips and continued to experiment eye make up. I only added color when I was 27/28.

Katie Avatar

Just before christmas when I stumbled onto the makeup community on youtube. I’m 17 now, and a total addict! so I was just in time to hone my skills for college : )

GlamRockStar Avatar

It started in high school, but then it was just eyeliner, mascara and some lip gloss. But it wasn’t until I was about 22 when I really started getting into it.

Caitlin Avatar

I liked playing with makeup as a little kid. But I didn’t really become a junkie till this last year. And now that I have money I can’t stop buying it!! (well I can now cuz I’m jobless and poor >< )

littlemissmagic Avatar

10?11? this was when i got my first lipgloss – bonnebell raspberry!

i got into mac when i was around 16 though. my first eye shadow was shimmermoss! (which i ended up giving away cause i realized aquadisiac is a turqoise that suits me better)

Jamie Avatar

After I got my first big tax refund check I bought some MAC brushes and a lipglass in Oyster Girl. Besides the lipglass I used really cheapo products, but washed those brushes religiously every week in the special MAC brush cleanser. I applied that lipglass like every 10 minutes…I thought I was so stylish!
I lost interest after a while, and eventually Ebayed my brush collection.
I found the YT videos and the love affair began again. I’m actually planning on buying the Oystergirl again this weekend.

francesca Avatar

At 12. My father, a psychoanalyst, thought that makeup helped his daughter to become aware of her femininity (yay!!!) and bought me my first palette (Elizabeth Arden). And makeup has become my greatest passion. Thanks, dad!

Nathalie Avatar

That’s really cool, really really cool. That’s not my father who helped me getting aware of my feminity. Not even my mother. :-/

Nicole15 Avatar

Around middle school I fell in love with makeup, but wasn’t allowed to wear it. Did get punished for wearing eyeliner in a school pic without permission too. My addiction grew from there. In high school, i remember rocking the grunge/punk looks. Then when Sephoras started opening & MAC’s became more widespread, it was all downhill for me. It’s a hobby, it’s a passion and I think it will always be that way for me.

Luda Avatar

When I was 13 I started wearing mascara and very little eyeliner everyday to school. When I went out with my friends I also wore nude and taupe eyeshadow. I started wearing much heavier make up when I was 17 – 18.

sapphire Avatar

when i was 16/17 in naturel colors,, and a eyeliner and mascara.. than i started to become more extreem…. finaly i got some kids and it was just some mascare and eyeliner.. and fogot myself.. now am older am back into it where i was when i was 20 🙂

Angela Avatar

I never really wore makeup in high school for some reason (I think I was too lazy to) but around when I started college I mostly just wore liquid eyeliner and occasionally really crappy eyeshadow. When I started working after college, I had *one* eyeshadow compact that had very neutral colors, and I wore this occasionally for the better part of 3 years. A few months ago I came across a tutorial on Youtube about makeup application that was *really* entertaining to watch, and since then I’ve grown a healthy appreciation for beauty products. I guess I was late to the party!

Katya Avatar

may be arounf 15 i just started using mascara and cute beige glitted liner, and then around 16/17 i actually started using it more makeup.., now dys im not that addicted 2 it still but i love new trandy things!!!

Inky Avatar

when I was about nine or ten, my mom worked at the cosmetics counter of a department store for Revlon, back in the day when you didn’t buy it at drug stores. She wore crazy false lashes (it was the late 60’s/early 70’s) and had so much make up. I thought everyone had that much and all those testers! it never stopped after that.

jasmine.W Avatar

i would steal my sisters stuff when i was younger(she is way lighter than me) but it didnt go into overload until 21 and now at 24 (almost) and its damn near an obsession! not so much wearing it, but just being into beauty in general.

carriespooner Avatar

When I was itty bitty, my mom was an AVON lady and she got me all kinds of fun makeup things to play with.

I’ve never not been into it.

It’s part of my genetic make-up.

Daisy Avatar

I use to wear make up when I went out or special occasions. I had make up, MAC even just never wore it because I didn’t know how to really apply it and make it look good. I didn’t get into it till just about a month ago when I ran into a youtube tutorial. I was hooked and realized there was more to my make up than I thought. Now I use all my colors and play with my make up and its fun to learn something new.

Faith Avatar

I got into wearing crazy nail polish when I was around 8. Lip gloss followed, but I didn’t wear any other makeup until I was in eighth grade. I didn’t really start getting into how to do it properly until college, though.

HoneyBrown1976 Avatar

It started in high school, dipped a bit in college, came back in my early twenties, dipped again in my late twenties, and now it’s back in my early thirties.

Jadelyn Avatar

My mom wouldn’t let me touch makeup until I hit the 8th grade, at which time she showed me how to use basic stuff like mascara and lip gloss. She bought me a drugstore neutral eyeshadow quad and my first tube of mascara that year, although for some reason I developed a real fondness for layering bizarre colors of lipstick and gloss together. Like a bright red lipstick with bronzy-brown gloss.

Then I was introduced to MAC when I was 19…and it was all on from there. Mom and I’d gone to Macy’s to get her a new foundation, and the MAC colors were so pretty (and my mom and I are both suckers for color, though not so much in makeup) that we had to sit down and get our makeup done, which led to us buying like $500 of stuff…and we’ve never looked back. I will always love the woman who did my makeup then for teaching me how to use eyeliner. 😀

lunatwinkle Avatar

I first began to wear makeup when I was 13 or 14. I still remember my very first foundation: it was a liquid foundation from Cover Girl. I got a shade too pale and it looked awful on me. Lol!

Sara Avatar

Well I started buying cheap eyeshadows since I was 11, and I bought sparkly lipgloss when I was about 6, but then I fell in love with MAC and NARS when I turned 13 since then on I’m a makeup addict! haha 🙂

kat Avatar

When I was 19 I tried to get into them, but was attracted to drugstore brands because they were cheaper and I didn’t know what I wanted yet. The colour payoff was soooooo poor and those shitty applicator brushes did nothing so Iwas turned off the concept of makup until I was 20 or 21, when I finally bought a couple MAC eyeshadows and some lancome foundation and lipgloss… and then it’s been building ever since!

Cheri Avatar

Definitely when I was around 18 or so.
I slipped on some eyeliner one day because this guy I was talking to suggested that I try it, and THEN he kept telling me how hot I looked with it on. LMFAO.

How pathetic is thaaat? Hahahaha.

Anyway, then I was just .. obsessed with it.

Heather Avatar

I’ve never really been into makeup, I only wear it on special occasions but normally it’s just mascara and maybe lipgloss. I started wearing it at 15 but I’m still and have always been pretty much a tomboy.

Sarah Avatar

I wasn’t into it at all in my teens. Just a bit of mascara – I never had anyone around to teach my how to apply it so when I was younger (12-13) and tried out some cheap drugstore brands with the crappy applicators it looked awful and I got totally turned off by it. But I remember for some reason I thought glitter on my cheeks looked good though – ugh, waaay too much!
Anyways, my obsession and love of makeup started last year, April 2008 I think. I was checking out music videos on Youtube and ended up watching Lauren Luke’s Leona Lewis video. After I watched that I immediately started researching MAC (what’s MAC, lol! I can’t believe I’d never heard of it 😉 and other products she mentioned. I was so excited – there was so much more to makeup than I’d ever known! Since then I’ve slowly started getting a decent collection of products and brushes and learning more and more about application (no more sponges more eyeshadow, lol!) Suddenly I am the expert among my friends, haha.

Krystal Avatar

I’m 25 and I’ve only gotten interested in makeup in the last year. I don’t go out much, so I never found the need to wear any.

Tiffany Avatar

I first really got into makeup (the whole face) was maybe a year ago. But before that all I knew was black eyeliner and a one color eyeshadow all over my lids.

tremorviolet Avatar

I was always fascinated by make-up as a young teen but I was scared to wear “obvious” stuff. Then, my junior year in high school (which was in the 80’s), I discovered “punk” and started wearing lots of eyeliner and dark purple or black lipstick. Then I transitioned to red lipstick and more natural looks, but still with very basic techniques. In my thirties, I got complacent and started wearing the same two Nars duos, Nars Orgasm blush, and lipgloss every single day.
This past Christmas, my travel plans fell through at the last second and I was stuck at home for a week with no plans. So I wound up watching all these awesome Youtube videos and got inspired again. I’ve spent soooo much time learning all about make-up application again and building up my stash. It’s been a really fun new hobby.

KaylaK Avatar

I always wore light makeup starting in 7th grade, just light pink gloss, pressed powder, and bottom eyeliner. Then in 8th grade I got bold and did mascara and top and bottom eyeliner lol. Every now and then I did one eyeshadow color but I did not do much at all except for when I got my makeup done for my dances! It wasn’t till I was 19 when I was taught how to do an eye look, and how to put on blush and all that jazz lol. Ever since then I have been addicted and I keep learning everyday!

hi Avatar

I was always allowed to play with blush, eyeshadow and lipgloss – the color basics – when I was in third grade at home, but never in public. I started wearing those products lightly in public in 5th grade, but my mom would never let me go anywhere if I had too much on or we were going somewhere important. I cut out the blush and started wearing eyeliner and mascara in 6th grade, and it wasn’t until this year – 7th grade – that I really got into makeup and MAC and experimenting with looks and colors (and I started wearing blush again, yay!) 😀

Shealyn Avatar

In highschool I just used powder, (pink frosty) eyeshadow and mascara. I really got into makeup when I started university in September of ’07…so when I turned 18. I discovered xsparkage on youtube and everything has blossomed from there. I use drugstore, mac, benefit, smashbox, gosh, etc. now, but graduating from teaching next year, i’ll have to put aside many of my colours and just wear neutrals :/

Leanne Avatar

Well, in grade 6 I always saw the pretty makeup on older girls, and my older step sister, my mom sold Avon and I always had makeup coming into my house for clients. In grade 7, was when I first got into makeup, i was pretty timid; I can remember wearing a very pale gold color eyeshadow and some mascara, then maybe a light or clear lipgloss. By the end of grade seven I thought I was being very bold when I had a light line of green eyeliner on my upper lash line. In grade eight, I was more familiar with makeup, and that is also when I discovered MAC. I am still in grade eight, although very near the end 🙂 and I can’t even help how addicted I am! I have since bought 5 or 6 things from MAC since maybe christmas, and I missed all the holdiay collections, which kind of sucks now, lol.

civa Avatar

um…interesing question, I had to think a while before I can answer.
my mom don’t wear make up unless needed she’ll throw on a lip stick and that’s it! I remember wearing a red lipstick and earings when I was 6 for the school performance but I didn’t love the makeup, I loved the earings!(and there goes the affair with accessories till now)
I started wearing lip gloss when I was 16 I think? I’d go and get my brows done with my friend but that’s all. Then I’d wear mascara, powder than foundation when I got to college(19?). The reason I started do my brows is because I got my hair died in a light color – you gotta match those brows you know!(don’t want light hair with dark black-brown brows…)
My affair really started around 20 I guess. It’s all because of a show that teaches different techniques and style that makes a lot of difference and it’s so fun! I couldn’t stop loving makeup ever since! I think once you’ve fallen there’s no way back. 🙂

Miss K Avatar

When I was 17. My best friend’s aunt was a makeup artist at a soap opera and she used to give us advice and free makeup. My friend also gave me one of Kevyn Aucoin’s books, which made me really hooked. After reading that book I saw makeup as a way of expressing my mood and personality, not just a way to look prettier. (Although there’s nothing wrong with just wanting to look pretty! =) )

Beto Kylie Avatar

I introduced myself to MAC when last August (2008) when a friend, who was directing a Disney concert for a school, asked me if I’d like to do make-up backstage for the main characters. I had never touched make-up before, but I agreed. It seemed fun. So, I went to MAC, looked around, bought a few things…and that’s how I started!!! The first look I did with the stuff I got was one of Kylie Minogue:
http://www.newkylie.ru/wallpapers/Kylie_Minogue_2hearts.jpg
I used this look for Scar, from The Lion King!!!!
I’m a MAC fan ever since!
I get nostalgic of those days when I was learning about the different kinds of make-up (shadows, eyeliners, blush, mascara, foundation etc) and was thrilled to see such variety of colors available, and being able to do looks I’d seen before!
Being a guy, I sometimes line my lower lash line with shadows or glitter eye-liner. Or sometimes I part my hair by the side and from the roots to about an inch, I comb and pat glitter on. Or sometimes I put subtle blush.
🙂

Yuki Avatar

I was 14 when I became interested in make up but my mom didn’t let me wear any until my 15 birthday which I patiently waited for.But even then I had a gentle hand with it only wearing a little mascara and shimmery white shadow.However I didn’t really get into buying it until my 20 birthday were I found the wonders of ULTA LOL!.

Bibi Avatar

hummm… mine is a funnie one. I was in 8th grade and can’t wait to wear makeup, which of course my mother forbid saying that if I wear makeup my skin will breakout and I’ll b ugly. if anyone say that to me a couple years before I would believe em (I just got over my super breakout phase and had almost perfect skin by now). I sneak a lipstick and eyeliner to school and put it on at school, wipe it off by the time school let out. Went on like that for about a year then I got in the tomboy look, ditch makeup all the way into collage, then when I got married I kindda slip of the makeup band wagon.

Who would have known my sister would grow up and be the biggest makeup freak (well that’s unfair because she was good, better then me, she didn’t start till her senior year in HS). My sister got me into make up again at 28 and right into MAC (before I would just wear Clinique) right after the FAFI collection which I am sad to say I miss it all 🙁 didn’t get one thing (not until a few weeks ago went to the Cosmetics Outlet and got some way cool I love the packaging)

That’s my story been hook ever since, (my hubby thinks if I stop buying makeup I can feed a 3rd world country)

CeeBee Avatar

My mother used to sell Nutrimetics when I was about 12 she she would hold makeup parties with me always hovering in the background and wanting to get my sticky little fingers into everything.
I remember her weeping when one my of my little cousins got into her room and smushed her most perfect (and discontinued) red Shiseido lipstick (called Carmine Kiss, I remember) all across her dresser and mirror.

I had really bad acne all through my late teens and early twenties, so it was always my mission to find a perfect foundation and concealer so I could cover up those icky spots! I’d always just used Revlon and L’Oreal products, not really bothering too much about colour, just sticking to neutrals until I was about 23 or 24 and Dior put out the Mystic Jade eyeshadow quintet.
I was absolutely MESMERIZED by it, especially the deep greeny brown metallic colour. I dropped $108 on it without even thinking and that ladies, was the start of my obsession…

Brenda Avatar

I would like to say while I have been playing with makeup since 5 years old, and allowed to wear it in public and to school since i was 12, as I have gotten older, I have learned to appreciate my OWN SKIN. Lots of young girls play with it and its fun, I’m a painter so the skin is a whole new reusable canvas!!! I only hope that girls will please keep your looks youthful and fresh, not caking on and trying to look older….life goes by so fast. I certainly don’t look 30, don’t feel it though its only months away. and I love my freckles and let them show through!!!

Simply Avatar

I dabbled a tiny bit when I was a senior in high school, but I didn’t become obsessed until I was searching the internet for a way to put eyeshadow on my Asian eyes. The eyeshadows I bought before, all had instructions like “Put so-and-so color in your crease” Um…yeah..I don’t have one…So! I found someone (an Asian girl) that had taped themselves doing a smoky eye and that was the beginning of the end hahah.

Jessica Avatar

I liked makeup in high school, I played around with eyeshadow and was a lipgloss a holic. I always did my friends makeup for proms, dates, girls nights out, etc. etc.

The real trouble didn’t start until…I was 21 when I got a job at a Clinique counter. I discovered that I don’t like selling as much as I love applying makeup! After that I went crazy, played around with all the different lines at my store, became a regular at Sephora and Ulta and started reading beauty blogs and makeup reviews. Now I have been in the beauty industry for 4 years and love it! I have secretly wanted to go out to LA and get work there but haven’t had the audacity to do it. Maybe some day!

Jessica Avatar

Oh and my mom was an Avon lady so she would always get me little things here and there growing up. I used to love watching her put on makeup. Shes obsessed with makeup like me but not nearly as crazy as I am! I think its funny how everyone says its there moms who introduced them to makeup when they were young—its such an endearing tradition isn’t it? Moms putting lipgloss on there little girls..

Saira Avatar

I used to love playing with my mum’s make-up when I was small but I probably started wearing it when I was 15/16. I only really wore a little powder, blusher and sometimes pale eyeshadow when I was 15/16 and then I started wearing mascara and lipstick when I was around 17/18. I’ve always loved make-up but I’d say that I’ve started experimenting with more different make-up looks over the last few years.

meechi Avatar

i was really young when i first started. me being the youngest from the group of people i was hanging out with, they would always do little makeover on me. my sister and mother play a big part too cause i would use to watch them get ready for parties and what not. i’ve always looked up to my older sister she was the one that gave me my first ever makeup lol.

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