I love how creative and fun it is 🙂 I love that you can play with color and texture, combining them together, and seeing how they come together… and then wash it all off.
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Watching my Mom get ready when I was a little girl. I loved the process and the transformation at the end, and the way her face smelled when she was done, the smell of her lipstick. My grandmother gave me a nude pink lipstick that she let me wear every time I would go to her house. The tube was really hefty. I felt like such a grown up. She would explain to me where and how to apply the ‘rouge’. She used her lipsrick for blush also, never wore any eye makeup except for one coat of mascara. She always looked so put together, even if she had spent a day out side weeding the backyard, or all day cleaning and then cooking. Between her and my mom, I just felt like I should look the same way when I was that age. They always made an effort, and even at a very young age I admired that.
its transformative powers! from sad grey face ? to perky pretty face ? in just 5 minutes.
ABSOLUTELY!
Honestly – Youtube beauty channels. I went through a rough breakup 5 years ago and found Youtube beauty tutorials for the first time. Watching them and hanging out with these happy, positive virtual girlfriends was just calming and healing, and I actually learned a lot of new things and about all these brands and products I never saw in the drugstore – and in a way seeing other women loving and let’s face it, hoarding makeup, gave me permission to do the same. I’ll be honest, buying and playing with beauty products was a bit of retail therapy at first, and then morphed into this Zen thing that I do every day – there is something about looking in the mirror and catering to yourself for a few minutes a day – looking into your own eyes, I think it helps you connect with yourself if nothing else!
Same! I got divorced 6 years ago. I was super depressed and since I had been in an unhappy marriage for several years I just didn’t care about my appearance. In my teens and 20s I wasn’t into makeup either. But i decided to buy some new makeup to feel prettier and I discovered YouTube when I decided to learn how to apply eyeshadow better. One thing let to another and I am now a full fledged makeup hoarder.
Linda, the internet can be such a hurtful place, and I am so glad you had the opposite experience. I keep re-reading your comment because it makes me happy to know that something like a makeup tutorial can be so healing. It is inspiring me to take some action to make someone feel the same way somehow.
The girls in the all girls high school had the high end makeup mostly and I wanted to have what they had. Not necessary look or be older. But not to be left out. Besides I had bad acne and Clinique was the in product then for the young…like Estée was for the “old” as I saw it when I was 14.
I’ve always worn makeup, but I didn’t get really obsessed until about 3 years ago. When I was younger, I had more creative outlets (writing, drawing, reading, etc), but with more and more adult responsibilities (job, house, family) there’s very little time or energy left, so makeup is now my creative outlet. It’s a way to express my mood, be artistic, have fun, bond with fellow makeup junkies, etc. Plus, as I get older, I find makeup more and more essential — brow makeup to fill in thinning brows, blush to add color to cheeks, foundation to hide uneveness and sallowness, lipstick to add color to lips. I guess I fell in love when I saw how it can transform me.
Several things!
1.) It’s ability to transform ones entire look fairly drastically.
2.) As a child/teen art student, this for me is just another avenue of artistic expression!
3.) I have fun doing it. Always trying some new technique or color combo keeps my creative juices flowing!
4.) It has helped me deal with some serious insecurities I have had, especially when I was younger and struggled with super oily skin plagued with cystic acne. I really felt like an ugly duckling in my teens. This helped me at least accentuate and draw attention to my better features, this in turn built some better self confidence.
Same here – I had really bad cystic acne well into my mid 20s and then my face continued to break out into my 40s. Even now, at age 62, I still get the occasional zit. So for me, I started wearing foundation in high school never stopped.
The fact that I could change colors as I pleased is certainly something I like a lot about makeup. But what made me fell in love with it was that no matter how much or how little products I use, it always manage to make me feel a bit better!!! There’s something about playing with colors that simply lifts my mood up.
Hmmm I don’t know, really, I think the confidence that it gives me and how it makes me feel better in my skin.
Couldn’t agree more. it’s so transformative and it easily washes off.
Since I was young, I was interested in makeup and it’s something about the process of applying makeup that is so comforting and relaxing.
Just the myriad of textures and colors all displayed can catch one’s eye so easily! How can you not fall in love with makeup!7
I’ve no idea. But I clearly remember that even when I was back in the senior grades of highschool, I was fascinated and loved it. It’s probably down to ads and articles in magazines like Seventeen, Glamour and Mademoiselle (which isn’t around any more) and even articles by people like Patti Boyd in 16 Magazine (honestly, “she” wrote a beauty column “from London” and I would just pour over it over and over again. That was my start, I guess, with this feeling that with makeup, you could make yourself the best looking “you” possible (which probably explains my annoyance over all this “you too can look like Kim K” mishegoss).
“you too can look like Kim K” mishegos
Brilliant!
I love how you can chop and change your look without commitment. Hate that colour? No problem – just wash it off! I also love experimenting with different colour combos/textures to suit the occasion, my current mood etc. Makeup isn’t just about slapping on your ‘warpaint’ every morning; it’s an art form, and you can come up with some really unique colours and looks.
My grandmother and older sister wore it. Knew it had to be special!
I was about ten or eleven at the time. I remember the first time seeing an eye shadow palette at my neighborhood drug store and just falling in love with the colors. I went home, opened my piggy bank and counted out the $1.49 that was needed to buy it, running back to the store, plunking my coins down on the counter (I didn’t realize that there was sales tax and that I did not have enough, but the person behind the counter said it was alright, and I could bring the difference when I could…those were the days.), and running home with my new makeup. That was the beginning of the love affair.
I .only started wearing makeup seriously in my late, late twenties. So, I’m going to sound like the most superficial person ever to post on this site, but I fell in love with the packaging — the high-end packaging. Because I needed almost everything, I had a lot of fun buying the prettiest makeup I could find in the prettiest packaging. I loved looking at it and buying it. It took me a few more years to feel comfortable with applying it, however. What can I say? I was a marketing analyst’s dream customer! Show me the pretty!
It’s not superficial to love the pretty packaging. They’re like little works of art.
My mom. She was a beautiful woman with striking full lips and skin to die for. She always wore lovely makeup, and in the days of the red bombshell lipstick, she owned it. Like us here, she loved how makeup helped enhance her best self, not cover it up. She was my makeup muse for sure.
When I was finally allowed to wear makeup in the 8th grade (after years of sneaking around and secretly wearing my mom’s makeup), it became something that I just immediately fell in love with. I never needed it to feel beautiful, but I believe makeup magnifies the beauty that already exists within me. It makes me feel like I can do anything. It is empowering, and I love the confidence makeup gives me. Plus, there is something so alluring about makeup…I think it just speaks to my soul!
Everything you said is so spot-on. It enhances your beauty, which you already possess, and it’s alluring.
Artistry, creativity, and the ability to alter an appearance–without photoshop! LOL Like many young teens, I went through that fun and fanciful face painting phase. I’d get together with girlfriends and we’d pool all our makeup and get to work 🙂 This was in the late fifties and early sixties. We’d document our efforts with a Kodak camera and have to wait a week or more to get the pictures back from the developer. My, how things have changed! The one thing that hasn’t changed; however, is my love of makeup.
I had a friend whose mother worked at a high end makeup counter. She would give me products to try. My mom used a lot of Avon and the representative would give me the little white tester tubes and between the two my love of makeup was born. I also think it was an artistic release. My whole family are artistic but I always thought that I was not until I started playing with makeup.
Oh, I loved those Avon lipstick sample tubes! My grandma got a lot from her Avon lady and always had them all over her house, so I grabbed all I could find when I went to my grandparents’ house in the summer as a child/teen.
Oh I had forgotten about Avon and the little samples. My mother bought from Avon ladies sometimes. A nice memory.
By the time I was 15, I was selling Avon. My mom co-signed because she thought I would be good at it since I loved makeup so much. She hadn’t counted on my buying more than I sold and thus my career as an Avon lady was short-lived.
I’ve always been into makeup, from as early as I can remember being enchanted by my grandmother’s vanity table, all the pretty perfume bottles and cosmetics, etc. In my early working years, I had to be basic and utilitarian for cost reasons. Lately with more discretionary income and online resources like Temptalia, I’ve gotten back into it as creative and fun. Also it’s really a great feeling to find that perfect shade of lip/blush/etc that has a transformative effect.
You know, I’ve only really gotten into make up the past few years… somehow I stumbled across Annamarie Tendler’s tumblr page and loved the way she applied her make up in her Daily Looks series and would try to emulate that. I learned so much from her page! And additionally, Colourpop started my make up collecting obsession. They were the first brand I discovered that I just HAD to get my hands on. Actually Colourpop is what started me watching YouTube videos too, and why I discovered this site. What a great domino effect!
1. I look much better with Foundation and powder
2. the vanilla smell of Mac lipsticks
3. the many Different Lipstick colours and the difference it makes
4. you can Look totally Different depending on your makeup colours
5. the beautiful packaging of some products
Honestly?…Bill Kaulitz by Tokio Hotel
My oldest sister. She was a trendsetter and fashion maven and I wanted to be just like her. Her and watching old movies and seeing how beautiful the actresses were and how beautifully made up and photographed they were…it was an enchantment.
I was around 11 years old when I discovered Seventeen magazine and makeup. I remembering finding an Avon makeup book in the house and reading it cover to cover. When I was a teenager, I began owning and collecting makeup. And aside from a period of economic hardship after the recession, I have always enjoyed buying and trying new makeup. I did some modeling, and I always felt so much more beautiful and glamorous. I think other people thought I was vain or insecure, so I didn’t talk about makeup very much. But a few years ago, I realized that there is a whole online community of women who just like to play with makeup.
That’s so funny…I relate to the stereotypes makeup and fashion obsessed women are subjected to. I’m educated and well-spoken (or so I think), but have kind of a Barbie image. And people are blown away by the fact that I can use words over 2 syllables and have complex thoughts about politics, morality, and many other subjects completely unrelated to makeup. That’s their mistake if they underestimate me. I loooove my glam – makeup, fashion, hair, nails etc etc, but that’s not all I am. Like you, I am not vain (maybe a little), insecure, promiscuous or an airhead.
1. The ability to change according to whim.
2. The ability to use color in eyeshadow, cheeks and lips to allow wearing just about any color near my face.
3. Wash it all off and try something new and nothing is permanent.
4. It’s just fun!
Watching my mom put on her makeup when I was a little girl. The colors and the transformative effect. How happy it made my mom to feel pretty.
I loved that, too. I would wake up early to go in and watch her, her hair in those big rollers and then watch her transform. She used to use Jafra skin care products that smelled sooo good. All she wore was eyeliner, mascara, lipliner and lipstick but she would look so glamorous to me.
I remember the day I fell in love with makeup – my friend’s older sister lined my waterline and all of a sudden my eyes were so pretty – That was many years ago and I remember is so well!
I just love the way it transforms my appearance – more colourful and bright. I definitely love all the different kinds of eye shadows and lipsticks to experiment with, and the confidence it gives me.
I have been wearing makeup nearly all of my life (I started when I was 12) and my love for its transforming powers continues.
when my aunty told me that it was normal to wear makeup at the weddings I would attend years ago. I got curious and started looking for info on how to apply it properly. Then I discovered youtube and now wear makeup even for grocery shopping !
I started wearing foundation back in high school because of bad cystic acne. That was 45 years ago. I’m still wearing foundation now in my 60s because of acne scars. Besides the acne, what started me was the Clinique GWPs. My mom bought the moisturizer and gave me the lipsticks and blushes. That was in college – all my friends got addicted that way!
My mom’s friend Helen. I was about 5 or 6 years old and she was the first person I recognized to have ‘style’ in the real life sense, not just cinema. I think it also had much to do with Hitch. Tippi Hedren dazzled me. It’s not so much soley makeup, but the whole package. I love fashion too; constantly redo people in my thoughts all the time. I’ve always been half tomboy half girly girl. I would get angry if my mother tried to make me wear pants and not a dress.. but then go outside and fight with the boys.
I do not care for the exaggerated makeup you see so much of right now, It’s not for me. But I still stop to marvel at the the skill and creativity. Despite loving makeup, applying it wasn’t natural for me and it had to be earned. I’ve always found style clothing wise to be easier in just knowing what is right for me.
Sephora…..when I was a teenager (when most people get interested in makeup), the only options were drugstores (no sampling/no return in those days); and pushy department store that made it a hassle to try something without having to buy it. And still no returns….Srphotoa (followed by Ulta) changed the rules for everyone, plus introduced me to mid-priced brands I’d never heard of….Stila, Urban Decay, Tarte, Too Faced….they are common in department stores now, but only because Sephora forced them to expand beyond Estée Lauder’s brands and Chanel….or die.
I fell in love with makeup as a preteen when I first began wearing lip gloss. It’s been down hill since then.
As a young woman I was not allowed to try make up. As I passed through school I started to be fascinated. Then life took over. I was always interested but had 2 boys.so male pursuits came first. Then what my young men left home I became obsessed again. Now I love how you can change your look and lift your spirits.i have my own superb Art Deco dressing table to sit at and loads of beauty to play with. I love the beautiful feeling it gives me. To be surrounded by beauty is a dream
Watching my mom who is beautiful (wish I could show a picture here) and my grandma’ and all of my aunts they were always dressed so pristine day and night back in Cuba although the beauty resources were close to none available somehow they came up always looking so clean, well dressed, hair to perfection and immaculate skin all these I have no clue since there’s plenty of humidity. Besides, they all have beautiful porcelain great skin. Also, here, in the awesome U.S. my mom let me subscribe in high school to the Seventeen magazine which I would wait to receive with great exciment! The beautiful packaging and playing with lots of colors. I’m very pale with hazel eyes so I wear it lightly but absolutely love the process of applying makeup is something magical and special during our sometimes rushed times as mom’s and attending a family. It is a wonderful transformation just to get by at least with mascara, blush and lipstick! I love having tons of colors available and change everyday even if with a very light hand. ?
I’m a woman who sometimes wishes I were a drag queen. It may come as no surprise that I have an uncanny fascination with makeup, but my passion runs so deng ep that I often daydream about beating my face to the nines, putting on a massive wig, and sashaying down the sidewalk like a panther on the runway. To put it simply: I love wearing makeup (even loads of it), and I’m not afraid to admit it. Makeup is my therapy ( along with shopping). I love the way you start out looking so so and end up looking like a Queen. My fascination came when I was 8 yrs old. I used to watch my mother and aunts put on makeup. As I grew older, I was always in trouble for wearing makeup. My father would tell me to wash the garbage off my face, I was too young to wear makeup he would say. Well 18 being my lucky number, was the day I explored makeup and never stopped since !!!!!!!
i was always enthralled watching my mother put on her makeup. then, one day when i was three years old, i climbed up on her counter, opened her makeup bag and began to rub her red rouge stick from Avon all over my face. my mother was livid, trying to figure out how to get all that stuff off my face before church that night. my grandmother suggested vaseline and it worked perfectly. of course, i was thoroughly spanked but i was already hooked. i was always thought of makeup as the paint and faces the canvass. if you are good enough, you can completely reinvent yourself, or just play up your best features. it is all up to you.
It’s fun, it’s creative, and it’s not a life-and-death situation! When you make a mistake, it’s no big deal. Spending that bit of creative time with myself in the morning makes me feel happier as I go about my day, and the results make me feel happy, too. And, I can use it to make other people feel happy, too 🙂
Hi Christine & Temptalia,
I used to have really bad, embarrassing, cystic acne and scar’s. I would watch TV shows like Dynasty, Charlie’s Angel’s ect. Those women looked absolutely flawless & they carried themselves in such a confident manner. They were absolutely fierce! Where as I, at the time wanted to hide my face in the sand and disappear! I used to also watch my beautiful Mom get ready to go out. She was beautiful inside and out, but when she transformed herself… Wow! She only used a little bit of makeup to accent what she already had! (BTW: Happy Birthday to my Mom in Heaven! 10/8). It was a collaboration of everything stated above that got me absolutely loving make-up.
I’ve liked makeup for as long as I can remember. I remember being 10/12 and wearing hot pink lipstick. and then in high school I was on the swim team, and after swim ended senior year my interest in makeup skyrocketed, and since then I just love the transformation effect, and the creativity when it comes to color cosmetics like eyeshadow and and lipstick and blush. what made me fall in love though, was that I could control it. I could go bare faced or full on glam or natural or colorful, whatever I want. and I love that still to this day, even though it’s only been a couple years
The ability to cover up my acne. I had horrible acne for 8 on.
Like a power suit or doing single-leg burpees, makeup makes me feel empowered.
For me, it started when I was very young. I recall getting into my mom’s & older sister’s makeup. From there, I started with skincare as a teenager dealing with cystic acne. Which cleared up with a lot of hard work. Of course Avon & Mary Kay played their part. I started out with foundation to cover acne scars. So foundation, eyeliner, & lipstick during my college days. I worked for Clarins for a while and that’s when I blossomed. My manager would make wear a different color of eyeshadow everyday. Well, I do believe that she created a “color monster”. Lol. Because now I’m obsessed with eyeshadow & it has to match my outfit & I have wear at least colors on my lid at once. Yeeess. She definitely created a color monster. Lol.
And now for me it’s art, expression, & my time to relax & live in another world for a few minutes. It’s so transformative & it always makes me feel better. It’s good for your soul.
When I started to love makeup was when I was a young girl. Watching my mom apply makeup and seeing the shades of lipstick my older cousins would wear. I thought they all look great wearing makeup.
Oh my gosh…I don’t know if it was any one thing. Coming of age in the 80s, I was surrounded by glamour. First Barbie, then Teen magazine, soaps, nighttime soaps (Dynasty), supermodels…it was everywhere! Not in my house, really, my mom wasn’t into it, but it was the style of the times…bright colors, bling, big hair, big eyes, big glossy lips. Way overdone, but girls looked so beautiful. I definitely do not still do 80s looks, but I have followed beauty and fashion trends ever since.
Around last christmas when jeffree star came out with unicorn blood I really wanted it! and ive always wanted a naked 3 pallet. I ended up getting both and really liking them. I started watching more youtube tutorials and joined a beauty group on facebook! I think the group is where I “fell in love” I loved seeing everyones makeup and what they bought and I just became a total makeupoholic! so my story is a bit odd since It was just last year I fell in love with makeup and im turning 21 this year