mini bulletpoints// 01
no rules, my favorite incense, and a makeup rec: a new, weekly, bite-sized version of bulletpoints
The vibe: move forward defiantly
Do whatever you want! Who’s going to stop you? You don’t exist to please anyone else, and all the rules are made up and everything is fake anyway!
The evergreen recommendation1:
Rose scented incense. It’s the best incense2. I’m so dedicated that I bought it in bulk five years ago and never looked back! actually, I’m pretty sure I pavloved myself into feeling inspired to write when I smell it, which is a win-win for me. It’s a little sweet and powdery, but subtle— I want to bottle it, so if anyone has a lead on a perfume that smells exactly like rose incense, please, I beg, put me out of my misery!
Recommending:
Wearing more makeup. When I was in college, I would wake up before an 8 AM class and do a full face of makeup. I’m talking winged liner and shimmery eyeshadow. I was dedicated! As I’ve gotten older, I’ve moved away from that part of my life. My choice to wear makeup was rooted less soundly in creative verve, and instead was tied to insecurity. I felt like I didn’t look good, or attractive (hello, male gaze!) without it. So I had to unpack that. And admit that sometimes it’s uncomfortable and all this shit shellacked onto my face makes me feel crusty. I wear a tiny amount to work: CC cream, eyebrow gel, sometimes blush, sometimes mascara. Even less in the summer— I usually top my sunscreen with Dr. Jarts cicapair cream, do my eyebrows and call it a day.
Recently, though, I’ve started to miss makeup as an art form. I miss the process of sitting on my bedroom floor in front of the mirror (an activity that reminds of me of being 15, and 21, and 28 and every age in between) with my headphones in, putting makeup on. So I’ve been experimenting more lately, dipping my toe back in the eyeshadow palette pool3. I sported a red lip to work, which turned me into a ball of anxiety—all my female coworkers complimented me on it. I did a full face on a random Sunday afternoon, a trial run before I do my own makeup as the maid of honor in my friend’s wedding. You’ll pry 2016 eyeshadow from my cold dead hands. I love swiping on too much blush and an offensive amount of highlighter. Minimalism is dead and a bare face with a touch of mascara is for demure girls with perfect glass skin.
Who cares? It’s all just for fun! When’s the last time you had fun like crowding in front of the bathroom mirror with every beauty product you and your friends own spread out in front of you?
I know I look fine without makeup, that no one cares as much as I do, that in the real world, the people I interact with aren’t dissecting my appearance down to such granular details. At least one weekend day, I go out in public with no makeup (except brow gel, but we all have our things, don’t we?) and glasses instead of contacts, to let myself breathe. To let myself just be. I’m not plagued with the insecurity of whether or not my face turns too pink when I laugh hard or get nervous4. But sometimes, a little extra highlighter or a moody lipstick with a swipe of mascara completes a fun outfit, or livens up a basic outfit, or sets the tone when I go out to dinner and order a glass of red wine, or looks really good in pictures (okay, so I’m not above narcissism. Sue me!). Life is too short to force myself to wear makeup every day just so I look attractive enough. And life is too short to never wear makeup, because I enjoy putting it on venturing into the world with that playful spirit.
My point is, sometimes there are things we do because we feel bad about ourselves. And then we unpack those things and stop, but some of those things can also be fun. We can reclaim them. Is there something you can reclaim for yourself this weekend?
AKA things that I am so invested in that I’ll be recommending them for the rest of my fucking life.
argue with the wall.
Yes, all my eyeshadow palettes are long since expired. No, I will never throw them out because they are so expensive.
It does, it always has, it won’t change in the future so I might as well just allow it to happen.