"Unwearable" Makeup

Hi, friends!

Since makeup is a hobby of mine, I tend to watch YouTube videos about it fairly frequently. The channels I subscribe to are almost all on the small-ish side (between fifty thousand and one million subscribers) and don't really stick to the Instaglam look that a lot of the bigger "beautubers" tend to go for. One of the reasons I was drawn to these channels in particular is their overall attitude towards unusual colors.

Icy blue highlight and lip gloss that matches, cobalt mascara to tint my eyelashes, lipstick the color of turtles and trees, these are a few of my favorite things...

Makeup is a pretty individualized thing. Depending on your coloring, facial structure, fashion choices, and general preferences, what looks good to/on you might look super unappealing to/on someone else. The Instaglam look I mentioned earlier is not at all my cup of tea; I don't like overly done eyebrows, winged eyeliner, huge false lashes, matte warm brown eyeshadow, overdrawn and peachy nude lips, or bright stripes of highlighter. Those aren't the kinds of things that I enjoy, so I simply don't do them.

It ruffles my feathers when someone describes a shade of something as "unwearable." I fully understand that some lipstick/eyeshadow/highlighter colors would be seen as inappropriate in certain work environments and are therefore not practical for everyday use in a lot of cases. There's probably a big percentage of people who have no desire to wear bold colors, and that's also totally understandable. One of my favorite people to watch on YouTube is a teacher who almost always does very neutral looks. However, when she's reviewing bright products or decluttering them from her collection, she's polite about it. She says that those colors are things she'd personally never reach for and that's that.

Some YouTubers can't seem to show their audience an unusual color without mentioning how dreadfully unwearable it is. Brands like to send every shade of their new launches to influencers sometimes, and a lot of those influencers will then share swatches so that people can see what they look like outside the packaging. I've seen several videos where the person has a great time showing off the pink, red, and brown lipsticks, then scoffs at the blue or green ones because of how ridiculous they are. This mostly happens with lip colors, but I've seen it with other products, too. If it's glittery or too far away from a flesh tone, it gets dismissed immediately as something that no sane person would ever want to wear.

My philosophy when it comes to makeup (and style in general) is that if I like something, I'll wear it. Trends don't really matter to me, aside from making it easier or harder to find certain things. When gladiator sandals were all the rage, I stuck with my flip flops because I didn't see the appeal of weird, strappy things that looked like knee-high socks crossed with a fishing net. On the other hand, there was a certain style of ballet flats that it seemed like every girl wore to church for a while around 2009ish. They were super cute, so I ended up buying some next time I went shoe shopping. They definitely aren't "trendy" anymore, but I still have mine and still think they're cute, which means they still get worn.

Anyone else remember when these shoes were everywhere?

At some point in my journey into the world of makeup, I decided that I like "weird" colors. My stage makeup class allowed me to do all sorts of funky things, like make my skin blue for an ice fairy look or try to turn my face into a galaxy. I'd always wait to wash my face until after I walked back to my apartment so that I could show my roommates. I would, understandably, get some weird looks on the way home. (There were a few exceptions, though; I removed my fake beard before heading home in order to avoid making a hairy mess in the apartment.)
I guess after doing stuff like that, an unconventional color choice didn't seem like a very big deal.

There's a post I made on Facebook a while ago talking about "pulling off" bold colors. What I said back then is relevant to this post, so I'll kind of repeat myself here. The trick to wearing whatever color you want is honestly to just put it on and let yourself get used to seeing it on your face. Keep the other colors you use fairly neutral so the new color isn't as overwhelming. Unless the color is unflattering, you probably only think you "can't" wear it because it's something you aren't accustomed to seeing. If you aren't used to seeing yourself with red lipstick, even that might seem "unwearable" at first, despite that being one of the most standard lipstick colors out there. Once you've adjusted to seeing it on yourself, you'll be able to wear that color outside the house without feeling as self-conscious.

As far as makeup goes, there aren't any actual rules. There are moral guidelines — don't try to look like a different ethnicity — and general suggestions — it's good to blend your eyeshadow and bad to share mascara — but it's really just whatever you want to do with your face. As long as your choices are appropriate for your environment, you're fine.

I'm not trying to convince all of my friends who stick to neutral makeup to go out and buy a rainbow eyeshadow palette or a metallic blue-green lip gloss. I simply hope that more people will have an open mind about the spunkier colors. :)

Love,
Lizzie