How Makeup Can Improve Your Self Esteem
Self esteem
simply means how you estimate yourself, that is, what opinions you have of
yourself and how much value you put on yourself. A person with healthy self
esteem is one who is comfortable in his or her own skin, situation in life and
with what are other’s attitudes towards him or her. We all struggle with
self-esteem at some point in our lives. Some struggle more than others. Our
negative self-perceptions are usually caused by what others say about us.
Self-image is the commonest area of low self-esteem. We are constantly facing
images and messages from the media that tell us we need to better ourselves. We
need to be thinner, we need to be fairer, our hair needs to look “Salon
perfect” all the time. Also, right from our childhood, people comment on the
way we look, the way we dress and the way we present ourselves. Some of us get
compliments all the time, while most of us have been criticized over some
aspect of our appearance, at some point in our lives.
Not only should we
learn to take such comments in our stride, we must always remember that, how we
look is how we were born and, despite wonder products and cosmetic surgery, we
can’t ever look like that unrealistic ideal we have set for ourselves. Makeup
is a great method for teaching us that. The main mantra behind makeup is to
enhance what we already have. Makeup is not a mask to hide behind, nor is it
something that only the “beautiful” should do. A lot of women with low self
esteem simply decide to avoid makeup altogether, thinking that by not caring
about their appearance they will learn to be comfortable with who they are.
But, most of these women just don’t know how beautiful they can be if they put
in effort to look their best and boost their self-confidence in turn. Here are
some of the ways in which makeup can help us all in having self-esteem.We Use Makeup for Ourselves, Not Others
It is a
misconception to think that the way we present ourselves should be based on how
we want people to perceive us. People with low self-esteem are those more often
than not people-pleasers. They always put others before themselves, even
believing others over their own judgment. Makeup helps you in putting yourself
before others. As you apply that liquid eyeliner, don’t you love how gorgeous
your eyes suddenly look? And you had those eyes all along, it only took some
eyeliner for you to see how beautiful they are. Every makeup item we use is one
step towards making us see how beautiful we are. Your foundation should not
hide your natural skin color. It should only even out those little
imperfections. Your blush is to give you a healthy glow, which would emanate
anyway as you believe how nice you look. Your mascara-ed eyelashes, your
luscious lips…every makeup routine is like an ode to your own beauty. Celebrate
it! If you can celebrate your professional and personal achievements, then why
leave out your appearance? Also, men commonly complain that women wear too much
makeup, that too, in order to please men. Well, the answer we should give to
them is: a resounding NO. “Girls just wanna have fun, and makeup is fun.” It is
in our DNA to be attracted to that electric blue eyepencil we suddenly spot at
the makeup counter. Pleasing men is the last thing on our minds when we are
makeup busy. And what is “too much” makeup? I can think of too many biceps and
too much hair gel, but too much makeup? Beats me!
Makeup Doesn’t Hide Your Flaws, It Makes You Remember They Aren’t Flaws
So you have
acne. Pigmentation. Scars. Dark circles. Big deal. Is that something that makes
you a bad person, someone unlovable or unlikable, or someone who is not
attractive? The answer is, no. A stomach upset is not a flaw. Neither is
asthma. Then why let your acne get the better of you? If you are feeling upset
about your acne or scars, just look for images of celebrities without makeup on
the Internet. You will hardly find a celebrity with perfect alabaster skin sans
makeup. They have nice features and they use makeup to enhance those features.
You can too. Nearly every such skin problem can be carefully covered with
makeup. As long as you treat your problem(like use an eye-cream or an anti-acne
cream) like you would treat a case of high temperature, you can easily rely on
makeup to get you through the day.