I'm an Autumn, with Spring Tendencies

When I was about 12 years old my campfire group had a representative from Merle Norman Cosmetics come to one of our meetings and show us how to put on makeup. It was a big hit.


Afterwards my mom thought it would be fun if she and I went to a makeup class together at the Merle Norman in the Cerritos Mall. It was pretty darn fun, actually. The Merle Norman makeup expert made up one side of my face and I made up the other. We got to choose what colors we liked (based on the color concepts created by Color Me Beautiful, I'm an Autumn). I had a really fun day.


That day must have left an impression on me because I really love going to Sephora with The Girl and playing with makeup. It's fun to try new colors, new shades, fun ways to decorate one's face.


When I was a teenager I wore TONS of makeup. I think I probably kept Wet 'n Wild makeup in business. I certainly had a positive impact on their stock prices what with all the black eyeliner and blue eye shadow I bought, and let's not forget lipstick shade #518.


As I got older my makeup habits relaxed. The truth is I hardly ever wear makeup anymore. I wear it when I have an important meeting at work, when I travel for meetings and when I go to a social event which calls for a little dressing up. I even wear it when I need a little pick-me-up. There's nothing wrong with makeup. There's also nothing wrong with no makeup.


I read an article today that kinda pissed me off and made me a little stabby.


I read this article on Yahoo!.


In it a 20 year old girl from Indiana decided to go a whole year without wearing makeup. She said that she did it because she believes in women's rights and that when she started she felt "uncomfortable, undesirable, and embarrassed."


Then at the end of the article the staff at Yahoo! Beauty decided to make a pledge to go make-up free for a whole week and then write about their experience.


Who are these people? What a bunch of self-obsessed, sad-sacks.


Here's my take on makeup (and I make The Girl recite this every time we go into Sephora to play)


Makeup is like jewelry. Sometimes you need a little. Sometimes you need a lot. Sometimes you don't need it at all. Most importantly you never ever need it to be beautiful.