I've been thinking a lot about makeup recently. I used to be the biggest minimalist there ever was, in the most progressive way: "This is how God made me. Why would I try to change that!?" It somehow was similar to when I was 12, the age my mom finally allowed me to get my ears pierced, and I decided not to because I thought it was body mutilation. (I was an odd kid, who grew into an odd adult. But, spoiler alert: I got my ears pierced at age 18.)

But at the same time, I was very insecure about my blonde eyelashes and eyebrows. My big hair swallowed my face and hid my eyes, and having invisible eye features didn't help.

Yet, I always thought black mascara looked too harsh on me. And brown just looked wrong. I was beyond excited to discover Just for Redheads mascara, and later, Redhead Revolution for their strawberry blonde, red and auburn mascaras.

I began wearing their mascaras and eyebrow makeup relatively regularly.

Yet, lately I've been feeling weird about it. Sometimes I see pictures of myself and think how I look much younger when I'm not wearing eye makeup. I've noticed more fine lines around my eyes lately (oh the perks of having fair, dry skin!), and I fearusing makeup has contributed to that (the mascara flakes, the tugging and pulling when removing makeup, the makeup I was unable to remove and ended up sleeping in.)

Sometimes I look at men with similar features, and I never think "Their eyebrows are invisible! Sucks for them!" Instead I think, that suits them. Maybe it suits me too?

I have a number of friends who are makeup non-believers too. Yet, these friends have dark eyebrows and eyelashes; they don't need makeup to make their features stand out!

It's a strange thing to be insecure about. But I know many redheads, like the sisters who run How to be a Redhead would never leave the house without black mascara.

Still, when I see pictures of beautiful Norwegian and Swedish girls who wear their fair features proudly and sans makeup, I can't help but be mesmerized. I think of the time a very sexy Brazilian man told mehe loved how exotic I looked without makeup. A lesbian friend of mine whose hinted she has a crush on me has criticized me before for wearing makeup, telling me I look more beautiful without it. And I think of the Tilda Swintons of the world, who are so strikingly unique WITHOUT eye makeup.

Sometimes when I see girls wearing black mascara with similar features to me, I can't help but think they just look like they're wearing black mascara, and that they'd have been better off leaving it at home.

I did a quick Google search of redheads without makeup and found a site where men said they thought makeup ruined redheads. Of course, lots of men don't understand thatno-makeup looks often involve gobs of makeup.

A couple of sites even mentioned that redheads are some of the only women who look like two completely different people with and without makeup.

Anyway, I've noticed that oddly enough, lip color helps my eyebrows to stand out more. And I have no problem wearing lipsticks and stains, with the exception of not being able to keep it on!

So I might try to go sans eye makeup for a while and see how it goes. But I'll have to play up my lip game a bit. We'll see how long it lasts for.

What do you think? Should redheads always wear mascara?

Filed under: Beauty, Products, Self-improvement

Tags: beauty, blonde, blonde eyelashes, celebrity, daywalkers, dye jobs, eyebrows, genes, makeup, mascara, redhead, Scandanavia, tilda swinton

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Invisible Eyelashes & Eyebrow Insecurities - ChicagoNow (blog)