I love you, Makeup!

I betcha I say that almost every single morning; after I'm done plastering my face with the various items that make me look more...Alive? ...Pretty? ... Professional?

It takes me about an hour every single morning to style my hair and design my face before I feel like I can leave my house and attack the day. My boyfriend, on the other hand, can get ready in exactly 8 minutes. Eight! In the mornings when he knocks on my bathroom door to say goodbye and I look like a hot mess, it makes me miss the days of my shaved head. But only slightly, that was a one time dealio!

This looks-conscious person I have become is new to me; I have always been kind of a tomboy. I was one of those girls who used to brag about "only wearing mascara"... Maybe it was a condition of being in my early 20s, but I didn't feel the need to look so put together. I never gave it a second thought, and lived in PJs and messy buns.

Whatever the reason for my change (maturity?), I do adore contouring my face, making my eyelashes look full and long, and adding some gloss to my snackers! Although one part of me feels like my daily routine is utterly ridiculous when men don't have to take hardly any time to achieve the same result; the other part of me cherishes the fact that unlike a man, I can wake up ugly and make myself look however I want. I get to experiment on a daily basis to be the best me on the outside.

I have noticed a sort of stigma, however, surrounding a woman's decision to wear or not wear makeup. For example, if you refuse to leave the house without make up on, then you must be insecure. Or if you just don't want to put very much time into something that in reality doesn't matter, then you're sloppy.

This is only one of the many things that women get to deal with on a daily basis, something that doesn't make a difference if you look at the big picture of life, but likely something that we stress about constantly. In addition to being successful at our careers, loving caregivers for our families, and never showing our crazy, we are also expected to look beautiful. Deep down inside, I would love to fight this type of thinking, and stop doing my hair and make up and stop wearing pretty dresses to prove a point...but the fact is I like looking "pretty". And if that means spending 15 minutes on my make up every day, then so be it! But I do it for me, and no one else.