“Cake face”

I care too much about what everyone else thinks. This seems to just be a part of being a teenager—we all think that the world revolves around us, and that we’re constantly being judged by anyone and everyone we come across.

And generally, high school is a time for everyone to build an identity and do a bit of soul searching. This is probably one of the reasons why most girls experiment with makeup starting from high school. However, this also, unfortunately, leads to unfiltered, ignorant comments from teenage boys.

I was recently involved in a rather awkward conversation in which a boy was commenting on how much makeup a girl was wearing, calling her “cake face.” At this point, I realized that I’ve heard “you wear too much makeup,” “guys like natural girls” and “cake face” one too many times. And the irony is, that most of them can’t  differentiate a bare face from one that’s done up.

Personally, I try extremely hard not to let teenage boys’ opinions affect the choices I make.

I’m going to make the same point that everyone else makes: it’s not for you, it’s for me.

I have low self esteem, but I’m not some special snowflake. Almost everyone has the same issue at this age. If wearing something on my skin makes me feel a smidge better about myself, why wouldn’t I do so? Not to mention that it’s also quite fun.

Also, it’s not “lying” about your appearance. Unless dressing nicely, doing your hair, or putting on perfume is also lying, wearing makeup is not a lie.

Here’s a rule of thumb: unless someone asks, don’t criticise them on what they put on their face.

This isn’t an attack on the entire male population, I’m only going based on what I generally see. I know that there are many boys out there that respect girls’ decisions to wear makeup, and to those that do, thank you.

I also recognize that girls attack each other about the amount of makeup on their faces, some claiming superiority for being “natural.” If you don’t wear makeup, more power to you. But please don’t use it to claim yourself as being better than everyone else; we’re on the same team.

This also doesn’t just apply to females; if a boy decides that he wants to wear makeup, he shouldn’t be criticized either. Wearing makeup is no one’s business but their own, regardless of gender.

I don’t wake up and decide to spend extra time in the morning in hopes of impressing anyone. I do it to try to make it through the day without being crushed under the weight of my own self consciousness.

I will “paint” my face if I feel so inclined to.