1.) I love how things layer and come together. You just never know what combination might wow you one day! 2.) It washes off, so no matter how I might feel about a color or how my makeup turned out that day, it comes off easily. 3) How versatile it can be, from subtle to avant garde from utilitarian to extra.
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1) New products get launched ever so often.
2) New ways of combining colors are presented in palettes.
3) Watching how others use makeup is inspiring.
1.) The relaxing, creative “me-time” I get almost every day to put it on. 2.) Researching and shopping for makeup is so much fun. 3.) Being able to “design” my face in so many different ways with so many different shades and textures, depending on my mood and circumstance.
(I liked this question. I hope tomorrow’s question is three things you hate about makeup, which would be more difficult to answer, but very interesting to see what everyone says.)
Ooooh awesome answers and I would love to do things we hate about makeup tomorrow. Seconded.
…and, as much as I also love makeup, I could probably come up with 3 things (and more) that I hate REALLY easily!
And I’m gonna 3rd that question, Seraphine and Blue!
1. It makes me look pretty.
2. New lipsticks take up less space than new clothing.
3. It is a healthier obsession than addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling or sweets.
Great answers! Your #3 made me laugh…so true, though I have an addiction to both makeup AND sweets!
Me three! Lol! Addicted to colors also love gardening do I play with colors there too. Love sweets favorite meal is breaks fast to start the day on a sweet note.
I totally agree!
Yes!
I totally agree with you! Especially in the clothing space right?! Lol! On me, it makes me look healthier more radiant and polished. But especially healthier with the slightest Midas touch of a blush or bronzer, bit of foundation.
1. I love how I look with makeup on. I’m very pale and have dark under eye circles and so going without any makeup at all makes me look pretty bad. 2. I love how makeup allows me to show what I think is my “best face” to the world – and I know it’s only skin deep and the people who love or admire me do so for other reasons but I also think that feeling that I look my best helps me be my best in every day life. 3. I love how much fun I find makeup to be. I know several women who don’t wear any and I’m sure they wouldn’t find the “rigmarole” to be fun at all, in the same way I don’t find hand quilting to be fun and yet my very good makeup-less friend and mentor does. But I just enjoy the whole process – checking out new things I’ve seen here; trying new stuff; taking the quiet time every morning to apply skin care and makeup and prepare for the day. It’s as much a part of my preparations as things like brushing my teeth or having a shower!
Great question!
This is the most cliche thing to say but I love the self expressive aspect. It’s fun to go full millennial baddie one day and fresh scrubbed yuppie the next. It’s a costume.
I love how it brings people together. I have coworkers I’m not close with but we’ll have great chats about our favorite eyeliner formula or whether Colour Pop lipsticks worked for us. I’m positive I’ve had lovely exchanges online with people who have politics and sensibilities that are completely opposed to my own. Obviously makeup isn’t apolitical but there are moments when we talk shop about it that are.
I love the nostalgic element to style. The way we romanticize details we saw in a picture or in a classmate years ago and reinvent and rediscover them as adults.
I love your answers. Though for me it would be professional office one day and 90s “grunge” holdover the next.
I have the same thing with my coworkers, bonding over makeup. Last December, a group of my coworkers and I chipped in on the MAC Snowball Mini Lipstick Set (I placed the order, so I got to keep the box 😉 )
1) The colors. I love just looking at colors.
2) The creativity. I’m no MUA, but I have a great deal of fun with makeup, and find applying it relaxing.
3) It’s transformative power. It can change your looks, and your state of mind. It can change how others perceive you.
This is so true! I get excited looking at new colors & trying them on!
I swear you think exactly like I do. I was going to say just how much fun it is and how much I truly enjoy shopping for it and putting it on every day, but your answers explain why it’s fun.
Kindred makeup souls, for sure! 🙂
My top 3 out of MANY!
1.) One can use it to either accentuate their best/favorite feature(s) or even reshape/”hide” something that they may not like about their features/perceived flaws.
2.) That it is one of my prime creative outlets! There is still a sense of magic when I go in to use a new item that is more unique, just seeing how I can use it in a way that fits me personally.
3.) As someone who is old enough to have seen the evolution of modern makeup usage and various formulas, I can say definitively that it has been quite the ride! Remembering how eyeshadow used to be so powdery and dusty looking applied, almost always pastel or brown, that we had no such thing as an eyeshadow primer. No face primers, either. Usually only 5 to *maybe* 10 shades of foundation in any given line. We now have all these options available to us that didn’t even exist 40-50 years ago! Rich, buttery, every color you can imagine eyeshadow formulas. Primers for eyes, face, even lips. Foundation ranges have expanded exponentially up to 40+ shades per formula in many different brands, so that there is now a shade available for just about everyone!
1. I love the artistic self expression and creativity that comes with applying makeup. It is a safe way to play with colour that really has no commitment involved like there would be with painting a wall or a canvas. I can wash this off and start again and go in a completely different direction as many times as I want.
2. For me, wearing makeup is way more than just presenting my best face to the world or making me feel better. My self esteem is definitely wrapped up in my makeup. I was never that beautiful girl with the perfect face, hair, body, etc but I am good at knowing what works for me, how to apply my makeup in a way that suits my eye shape and colouring. When people tell me that I look great or that my makeup and skin are amazing, (Not hard to pull off in a small town, I might add. No one here wears makeup so anything I apply is thought to be really great!), there is definitely a boost to my ego.
3. I have really loved becoming part of a “sisterhood”, if you will, of like minded people who enjoy the process, the support and the collecting of beautiful and colorful makeup. It has given me the confidence to post pictures on IG, even though I am older, over-weight and with lots of skin issues. It is a support that no one in my family understands and yet, I am okay with that and have been able to turn a deaf ear to their negativity. I particularly enjoy the positivity that prevails in this forum. Everyone here is helpful, supportive and open to new ideas and new products and we share those freely with each other in an environment that is almost completely without drama. That is an extraordinary accomplishment and I am thankful that this forum exists and is managed in a professional way.
The support and enthusiasm for folks here really is wonderful.
Deborah, I’m so glad you feel so comfortable and welcome! This site in particular is like a little safe haven from much of the negativity in the world. It’s so great that you love it!
I think for me, it’s primarily cognitive things. I was ‘kicked out’ of art after the 7th grade, and changed my college major from fine arts to psych, largely bec I would have to take studio art. Even my dog negatively commented on my inability, by tearing up a finished adult coloring piece. I can do m/u, and it’s art. In that way, it’s compensatory for a failure. I love the executive functions aspect: the planning, organizing, and cost/benefit of acquisitions and storage. I also love that I live in the so-called left brain world, and m/u is such a right brained activity. It helps me with spatial concepts, like facial contours, highs, lows, shadows, asymmetry, with color, with emotion. Of course, I like the aspects everyone else said as well…and answered what ELSE do I like?
You are always so eloquent, kjh. You have a true mastery of the English language and since I spent a lot of time in the left side of my brain, I concur that getting to play in the right side is such a joy.
Kjh,
I was never encouraged to like art growing up, so I assumed I had no talent. As an adult in College, I loved all things art history and became passionate about and still didn’t allow myself to try to make art. Cosmetics was my way of dipping into that world without setting myself up for criticism.
It wasn’t until I was in my 40’s and 50’s that I discovered I loved being creative with painting classes (still not very good) and then magic happened- I discovered mosaics and it is my passion and I’m pretty darn good at it! My addiction to Italian glass rivals my love for new makeup!
Well, I could do mosaics, even when younger, lol. I think the kicker was my mum telling me I could have a watercolor painting book, when I learned to color between the lines, thinking it would encourage me. You know that I never got one…..until I bought one in college, Beatrix Potter…and turned it into a joke/comment by hanging a lovely Benjamin Bunny between the oils of this pretentious bully snot, who had fashioned her own exhibit. No one in authority took it down, prob they thought it was an editorial statement. The bloody canvases were lousy and still wet! She tore Benjamin up in a rage, and never found out I did it. Actually, I found out much later in life, that there may be a real reason. I’m missing, congenitally, my posterior cerebral arteries, so those ‘art areas’ might not be as well perfused. Funny, actually. It does not affect my health, except i’ll Never be able to have a PCA stroke!
1. Pretty colors and canvases!
2. Having some knowledge of makeup history makes learning about the past even more interesting.
3. I get the stimmy sensation of drawing on my face without my parents getting mad at me for getting into my dad’s inking pens.
The three things I love about makeup are:
1. The creativity – how you can create all kinds of looks using different shade combinations. It allows you to experiment with different styles and formats too.
2. How it makes me feel – colourful and vibrant. It makes me feel confident and prepared to take on anything in the day.
3. How it brings all us here together creating a wonderful, and supportive, beauty environment.
1. I am absolutely ENTHRALLED by the huge variety of colors and textures available. It’s mind-blowing for me, especially now. When I was in a much worse place with my depression, I felt as though I had lost the ability to see colors as vibrantly as they truly existed. It was so disheartening. I could REMEMBER what colors looked like when I was a kid, but everything around me looked dull compared to my memories. After I got help and went on medication, “my” colors have come back. The world is vibrant again (y’all I almost cried when I looked at the sky and saw brilliant blue again for the first time in 5+ years). This has definitely deepened my appreciation for all the different colors and hues and tones available, and it’s why I collect them like a little magpie.
2. It’s such an ephemeral art form. Like many of y’all have said, it washes off. When I do my makeup I don’t feel the same anxiety that I’m “wasting” things that I do when I draw or paint. I can start over, no harm done.
3. The community that I’ve found (especially here), is so amazing. Many of my friends and family members don’t “get it”, but I feel like most that I’ve found on forums or on YouTube DO.
MacKenzie, it is interesting to read about your perceptions of colour while in a deep depression as I went through a similar experience with my migraines. It was before they were diagnosed and I would tell the Doctor that the world looked different to me and that the colours were all muted and nothing was clear and crisp anymore. Initially he told me it was hormones and that going through the change of life did that and I can remember feeling like if this was how it was going to be then I wouldn’t make it. I knew that as I had been transitioning through the early stages of menopause, I felt like my thought processes were slow and that I was lagging behind everyone else in the room even just trying to have a conversation and while I did find that some of that was related to menopause and once I was basically through the process, the fuzzy thinking did clear up. I don’t know if this is a common reaction to menopause but it is common enough that a lot of women my age remark on it. My menopause was chemically induced by chemotherapy so I literally went from feeling “normal” one day to feeling like my head was wrapped in cotton wool. Once my migraines were diagnosed, a process that took 9 years and many Doctors and tests and once I started on medication the world slowly righted itself and things looked vibrant and colourful again. Interestingly enough, the medication they started me on for my migraines was an anti-depressant. Our bodies are still such a mystery regardless of how far medicine has advanced.
I am so happy that you are able to see the world with all it’s infinite colour and life and that makeup has been such a positive “hobby”.
It’s really validating to hear from someone who went through something similar. When I talk about my issues with color most people don’t get it. I’m so glad they’ve come back for you too!
You said it well Christine!
1. The ability to transform. I don’t do glitter but I enjoy shimmer. 2. Applying makeup everyday has helped me appreciate my face and stop wishing that I looked like someone else. 3. I’m just starting to experiment with rose gold and berries ; color makes me happy.
1) it boosts my self esteem through the roof (sad, but true!)
2) I love colors and it’s the best way to add any color I want to my look
3) As an artist, it’s another creative outlet and it’s so fun that my face is my palette!
Colors! I get drawn in by all the different shades possible from lighest to dark is all about colors. I also love gardening even as a child then stared adoring makeup as well.
The pretty casing they come in. The consistency from mattes to glitter I love them all.
The healthy look it can provide except when I run I naturally turn red but otherwise am pretty pale a bit of blush or bronze is wonderful in my life. I can’t tan I burn like like a lobster. Envy tanned legs so much. Lol! Only in my dreams my legs are a pair of milk jars.
The magic of transformation as I have a friend she is cute but has these teeny beady eyes. She knows how to work them and open them up with her skills but then I seen her without her makeup and looks as she is just woke up. I admire her skills to be able to widen up her eyes but not necersrilly her eyes. She is also a lot of fun! Lol! She is shorter than I am and wears high heels and is always complaining how they kill her but she won’t give them up. Beauty over pain she says.
I can relate about the paleness. I’m ghostly white most of the time, though fortunately I can tan slightly if I want.
I’m so jealous! I dream of tanning like a goddess. Lol! Hate my legs especially. The sun just refuses to even look at them. ?
1) Color- no matter how subtle or brilliant I have always been fascinated by colors and how they interact and play with or against each other
2) I truly feel that well-done makeup is like polishing a diamond, making the best of and bringing forth a person’s best facets.
3) If worse comes to worse you can just wash it off, makeup mistakes aren’t permanent & the worst that can happen is you might end up looking foolish for a bit
Christine, this has to be one of the best questions of 2018! Such a “therapy” question-
We all have our quirks and color in the the form of makeup is an outlet that fills a need to be creative daily. When I don’t wear makeup, it’s because I’m sick.
I love color- mixing it, shaping it, shading, lighting. Color makes me happy.
It makes me feel better, feel GOOD and look good.
Let’s face it (pun intended) the girly girl in me likes pretty things.
I’m alone in my love of makeup where I live, but I don’t care. People may not understand that the research, buying and using of these products fulfills that creative side of me as well as helps me deal with aging gracefully.
It’s been super cool reading everyone’s responses and seeing so much similarity!
For a long time I resented makeup and thought I had to use it to be accepted as a proper adult. It made me nervous and I was always on the lookout for the “look” that would make me fit in.
As my mental health has improved, and when I had time earlier this year to play with it a bit (following a serious injury), I realised it didn’t matter and I could be who I wanted to be (within reason in some contexts). Now I wear a lot, I enjoy it, and I do it for myself. I enjoy bringing out my features, creating different versions of myself, and different forms of creative self expression. Oddly, I do think a bit of makeup makes me fit in more than I used to (when my aesthetic ran more “I’m not here, don’t look at me”), even though I’m aware that my application doesn’t entirely fit with how women around me wear it. But I don’t care about fitting in. I just like being me.
1.) Colors!!!! Jewel tones!!! Eyeshadows are my gemstones!
2.) Creative license. I can do (just about) whatever I want to have the look (image) I want. And also along with that, learning how to create looks with colorful combinations.
3.)Stress relief, the entire buying to trying process.