I don't want to wear makeup.

First, I do not believe that wearing makeup is bad or wrong for any reason. There are many people in my life that find pleasure from makeup and use it as a form of creative expression. This is simply an explanation as to why I, personally, choose to not wear any.

1) I don’t want to.

As a woman, it’s often seen a necessity to apply makeup every morning, no matter the occasion. It is drilled into girls from a young age, that not wearing makeup makes you less feminine, and therefore, ugly. It is taught that girls must cover up any floors they have in order to be seen as attractive.

Throughout most of my time at secondary school, I wore makeup every day without fail, simply because it was the norm. I did not find any pleasure from putting it on, yet sometimes spent hours agonising over looking perfect every morning. I started to feel less and less confident in my own natural skin, and hated seeing myself without makeup. In a nutshell, makeup made me feel insecure about my natural appearance.

It sounds silly, but it is only in recent years, at the age of 20, that I’ve realised I have a choice. I began to put things into perspective. I realised that not many people even cared that I wasn’t wearing makeup, and those few who did, weren’t people I should call my friends. The people who love you don’t care about your appearance; they care about you. I began to wear less and less makeup every day, until I felt confident enough to share my natural skin with the world.

I do put a little makeup on for big events or nights out, however, I always go ‘bare-faced’ in my day to day life. I feel so much more confident and comfortable in my own skin now, and I’ve started to feel just as beautiful wearing no makeup, as I used to with a full face. Really, I feel so much less trapped; it’s an amazing feeling.

Of course, I appreciate that this will be more difficult, depending on the individual; everyone has their own battles to fight. Also, if you want to paint your face full of makeup just to watch TV, then you do you boo. But please, never feel like you do not have a choice. It’s your face, your body, your life.

2) It improves your skin.

It’s no secret that wearing a lot of makeup damages your skin. After not wearing makeup for a few weeks, I realised that my skin had cleared to a standard that it hadn’t been at in years. My skin feels so much healthier and happier now.

3) I get more sleep.

Because I don’t spend time doing my face every morning, I have more time to lie in, which ultimately puts me in a better mood for the rest of my day. I also don’t have to spend time taking makeup off in the evening, which used the be the bane of my life. I simply wash my face, moisturize and go straight to my warm, cosy bed.

4) I save money.

We all know how expensive makeup can be. Since not having to buy any, I’ve saved so much money. I now use that money to buy other things that I actually enjoy, like food.

5) I am bad at applying it.

To be completely honest, I am awful at applying makeup. I grew up surrounded by family who didn’t care for it, and as a result, never learned how to apply it correctly. I know this is no excuse; plenty of people are self-taught, and do an amazing job. All I am say here is that, even though I never cared for makeup, and never actually wanted to learn how to apply it, I still wore it (pretty badly) for most of my teenage life. It used to bother me so much that I couldn’t get it right, when really, I shouldn’t have cared. I didn’t want to wear it, but I felt like I had to, and this really stressed me out. This pressure was so unnecessary!

Ultimately, if you don’t want to wear makeup, don’t, and if you do, do. Just make sure that it is YOUR CHOICE.