Happy Bloggers With No Makeup Day! I'm aware that this tradition was probably a short-lived one for most, starting two years ago (see my previous Heart 2 Heart posts), but I've found that sticking with this day for the last 3 years has not only given me strength and encouragement, but also a greater hope that youtube and blogs can really make waves of positive impact. As much as I love makeup, I love encouraging women to love themselves even more.

The concept is that today, we share with the world our bare face. No eyeliner, concealer, mascara, foundation, lipstick, or whatever else it is that we hold dear to our makeup pouches. I've found that this annual "holiday" has made me grow as a person and there are few things that I've done as a blogger that have been as rewarding as being open about my imperfections.

Video and my makeup history below.

Ahh, May 14th, I remember you so fondly for all of the laughter and tears from last year's post and video. The post I am talking about was my first Heart 2 Heart where I recorded myself with my bare face, telling you guys about how I struggled with acne for half my life.

In lieu of the anniversary of this very open, very beautifully vulnerable holiday I wanted to record another Heart 2 Heart speaking about a topic that has been pressing upon my heart lately: Body Image.

Last year's video here:

I didn't intend for all of my Heart 2 Heart episodes to be without makeup, but somehow I think it keeps me and the audience more honest. In a way, it does take some bravery to put yourself up there in front of thousands of people just waiting to get hit by a bunch of twisted comments reiterating all the things you are self-conscious about, but I think it's also cathartic too.

I'm not the type of person who seeks out tons of admiration and it really turns my insides when I see comments from girls who seem to put bloggers and youtubers up on some kind of pedestal, as if they are idols, and stating how sad they are about their own lives, bodies, faces, or situations. Obviously it is very difficult to show people in 5 or 10 minutes who you truly are as a person. We do put up our best faces for our videos and pictures so it's easy to be fooled by the smoke and mirrors. At the end of the day, we are all human with our imperfections.

In terms of body image, I've mentioned this a bit here and there but my body size has made it very difficult for me to find clothes and shoes that fit... on top of all of the mean comments I've been called for it throughout my entire life. If I had a dime for every lewd comment a guy made about my height, or a snarky person saying I need to eat a burger, or cruel girls who tell me I look anorexic, I would be a very rich lady.

Somehow in our society it is completely unacceptable to tell an overweight person that they should "lose weight, fatty" but to say "you look so bony, eat a sandwich" it's totally okay. Why is that? It's a popular message to say that women are beautiful at any size except when they are skinny. I'm sure you've heard women themselves complaining saying, "Who wants a woman with no curves?" and "Women with no curves look like 12 year old boys." I'm not saying one or the other is right, I'm just saying for goodness sakes, can we just accept who we are, whatever our size?

It's so easy to put others down because of our own insecurities but the answer is not in pointing fingers and degrading others, especially for things they can't change. Instead we need to stop and take a good look in the mirror and accept who we are today, just as we are. Only then can we use the fun stuff like makeup, hairstyling, and fashion to honestly express who we are and not just what we want others to think we are.

Yes, I know I am skinny. I used to feel insecure about my spine looking like a stegosaurus. I hated wearing tank tops because my shoulders were bony. I hated how my wrists and knees looked because of how pronounced they are. But the thing is, is I don't actually weigh any differently than when I felt that way in middle school. The only thing that changed is my perception about my body and that if I am healthy IT'S OKAY!

Alright, onward marching with my bare-faced pics. No tweaking, editing, photoshopping, etc except to add my watermark.

So I've heard online today that May 14th is Bloggers Without Makeup Day (via: this blogher article) based on a feud with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb on the Today Show vs. Rosie O'Donnel who accused them of plastic surgery. The challenge? To do their show with no makeup.
I found the video clip quite refreshing and liberating. I feel that we as women are expected to be this platform representing grace, elegance, and being beautiful with no signs of stress or difficulty and let's just be honest. Who is really like that? Every model you see in a magazine, everything you see on tv, every billboard or advertisement is a falsification for what we think is expected of us. If we don't live up to that standard than we are categorized as boyish and less feminine. Even in the working world, we are expected to paint our faces, wear stilts, and suck in our tummies to be worth listening to. What a difference "professional" means for men!

This is a fascinating topic to me because I personally didn't wear makeup on a regular basis until I was 21, a junior in college. Don't get me wrong, I love makeup. It's an artform and it does make me feel confident and expressive. I'm not going to say that my bare face is loveliness... quite the contrary actually. I'm rather plain and my high school and college years were right at the worst of my acne problems and I was grandly overlooked by classmates. BUT what I learned was to be okay with myself for who I was inside and let that define me as a person, not my face.

It's strange to now be in the world of youtube and blogging because so many people out there see your face before they bother to read your words or listen to what you have to say. There are snap judgements made and I think people get offended if you don't look how they want you to look, talk how they want you to talk, or apply makeup how they think is best. Isn't that just the most bizarre concept? But we all do it without comprehending why, or considering what that person is going through and feels.

So yeah, I just wanted to write my two cents. I'm not saying it's easy to love yourself with a bare face but I think it is important to love who you are as a person, disconnected from your face and body, first. And we should also love others with no makeup too. From doing makeup on other people, I get the joy of seeing lots of beautiful women with no makeup on and I'm always delighted to see the potential in their canvas. This woman has gorgeous green flecks in her brown eyes, and this woman has wonderful rosy lips. This one has beautiful dark eyelashes, and this one has delicate hairs on her face which act as a natural mattefier. No woman isn't beautiful.

On that note here is me with a deep breath *gulp* showing my bare face.

Photos without makeup, straight from the camera. Not even lighting correction. Just resized and watermarked. (Ahhhhhhh!)


Bravery always feels a bit naked. ^.~

Here's to No Makeup Day!