How Makeup Shapes Your Confidence
Makeup can feel like a magical tool: it can blur imperfections, enhance natural features, and make us look more put-together. But when we rely on it too much, it can also destroy self-confidence and negatively impact our mental health, so it's always important to reevaluate why we're wearing it. Here's a look at 10 ways makeup can boost your confidence—and 10 ways it can tear it down.
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1. Enhances Features
Wearing makeup allows you to enhance your natural features so that they stand out more, which can greatly boost your confidence. For some, mascara might make their eyes more open and awake, and for others, a lip tint might give their face a gentle wash of color.
2. Evens Skin Tone
Ever heard beauty gurus on the web telling you to blend your foundation down your neck? The reason is that your face and neck can sometimes be different shades, so blending down ensures your skin tone is evened out. But makeup does more than just that: it also covers marks that make us feel self-conscious, like blemishes, scars, and hyperpigmentation spots.
3. Allows for Self-Expression
Makeup allows you to freely express yourself; it is, after all, a form of art. So whether you want to go for a bolder look to match a fancy outfit or an everyday, "no-makeup" look to run some quick errands, makeup lets you do whatever your heart desires.
4. Encourages Creativity
As mentioned, makeup is a form of art, so don't be afraid to treat your face like a canvas! As you explore, you'll find out there's so much more eyeliner and eyeshadow can do than just enhance your eyes. Honing this skill will allow you to think outside the box every time you create a look, which may boost your confidence in the long run.
5. Makes You Feel More "Put Together"
You're probably familiar with the phenomenon that when you're comfortable with the way you dress, you're more likely to feel confident. That's why dressing up for a job interview makes you feel more put together than showing up in a tee and joggers. The same goes for makeup: having a full face on can make you feel more in control and ready to tackle the day ahead.
6. Can Be Part of Self-Care
For many, doing makeup is part of their self-care routine—they do it because it makes them feel happy. And that's no surprise: other than the struggle to get your eyeliner right, applying makeup can be calming, playful, and fun.
7. Boosts Mood
Doing your makeup can instantly boost your mood as well. Why? Well, for one, it could be a part of your self-care routine, so just merely going through the motions of applying makeup can ease anxiety and dull negative thoughts. Plus, just getting to express your creativity and identity through makeup can be mentally healing as well!
8. Sense of Control
Makeup can also boost your confidence by giving you a sense of control, which can be particularly helpful for easing anxiety when everything else in life feels unpredictable. Simply getting to choose which products, shades, and looks you wear can give you a sense of stability and readiness.
9. It's Fun!
How does makeup boost your confidence? Simply because it's fun to do! When we not only have control over the routine but also get to explore our creativity through different looks, the experience can lift our mood and make us feel happy, playful, and—you guessed it—confident.
10. Promotes Empowerment
Makeup can promote empowerment because it allows you to express yourself in the way you want. You're the one who has control over how you present yourself to the world, and makeup is a tool that gives you that power to set the tone, whether it's through a bold eyeshadow look or lip color.
Yet, while wearing makeup can boost your confidence, it can tear it down as well. Let's jump into some of the ways it might actually negatively affect the way you see yourself.
1. Breakouts
If you have sensitive or acne-prone skin to begin with, wearing makeup all the time might not be a good idea, given that these products may only further exacerbate skin issues. This often creates a negative loop, where you might feel like you need to hide your breakouts with makeup, but makeup is only making it worse.
2. Becomes a Mask
When you wear makeup daily and never go out of the house without a full face on, you might start to think of it as a mask. This can worsen self-confidence, making you feel like you need to put on a different appearance and persona in order to fit in.
3. Pressure to Look "Perfect"
Because makeup blurs your imperfections and enhances your features, you may feel pressure to maintain this perfect, flawless appearance. You might believe that you can't ever show strangers your natural face, out of fear that they may judge you for it. Filters on social media may only crush your confidence further.
4. Constant Comparison
Even with makeup, you might still feel pressured to compare yourself to others and see how you match up to the standard. And even if makeup makes you feel more confident, the moment you see others who don't need to wear makeup at all or only wear it very minimally, that may only make you feel worse about your appearance.
5. Over-reliance
When you start wearing makeup daily and can't fathom the thought of going without it, you develop over-reliance on it, which can end up tearing down your confidence instead of building it up. The best is to strike a balance; don't let makeup rule over you and define your self-worth.
6. Changes Your Perception of Self-Worth
Following up on the previous point: when you become over-reliant on makeup to boost your confidence, it can alter the way you view and value yourself. You might feel like you're only worth the compliments you get when you look "put together" and have a full face on, which can significantly affect your mental health.
7. Makes You Hate Your Natural Features
As you continue to use makeup to hide your imperfections, you may start to hate your natural features and how you look without this "mask." This can severely affect your self-confidence, and you'll start to appreciate your natural beauty less and less.
8. Application Stress
It might sound odd, but the stress that sometimes comes with applying makeup can actually wreck your confidence. Some days, it seems almost impossible to get your eyeliner right or to blend your foundation in without it caking up. So instead of your finished look making you feel more polished and presentable, you might feel even worse than you had to begin with.
9. Becomes a Chore
Makeup should be fun—it shouldn’t feel like a chore. But when we become too dependent on it to lift our mood or boost confidence, it can start to feel like a routine we have to do to present ourselves a certain way. Relying on it this way can make makeup feel like a requirement rather than a choice, which isn’t a healthy way to view it.
10. Hides True Self
Makeup should be used as a way to enhance your natural features, not as a way to cover imperfections and create a "flawless" version of you. If you become over-reliant on it and use makeup to mask your true self, you'll only feel worse about the way you naturally look, not better.
