To Beginnings

It wasn't until I was midway through my first semester of college that I got the guts to actually wear makeup in public. I'd played with it before, yeah, alone at 3am in the dim, jaundiced light of the bathroom in my house. I grew up in a very anti-enhancement household—no haircolor, no piercings, no tattoos, no makeup.

The first time I wore makeup and didn't wash it off immediately, all I did was fill in my eyebrows and wear winged liner, with a little mascara on my top lashes. And it was terrifying, because I was afraid of it smudging all over, of looking stupid, of being judged and ridiculed. But it turned out okay. The world didn't end, and no one made fun of me.

Not bad for a first attempt at wings, eh?

At some point I tried some ridiculous colors. On my eyes and in my eyebrows, because the 2014 Pantone color of the year is Radiant Orchid, so why the heck not.

No, I did not wear this outside my room.

Then I tried strange lip colors. I put off lip colors for a long time partly because of practical issues, but also because they're impossible to hide if you get nervous.

OCC Lip tar in Rollergirl

After that I got a little more comfortable actually wearing stuff outside and not just to "play."

Some of us do not have naturally perfect eyebrows.

I still don't wear makeup every day, but maybe we'll get there at some point. While I've found plenty of color products that work for me, I have yet to find a concealer or foundation that matches my skin and doesn't emphasize its flaws. It's not a major concern. There are plenty of things that can be done even without that.

This is how you fake the brow thing.

A toast to new beginnings. Enjoy.

~Lotus