It's Over It's Over, It's All Over Now

My month without make-up has ended.

The results?

Clearer skin, especially the forehead.
More confidence and less self-consciousness on how I look daily.
I no longer feel the need to use make-up.

I noticed over the course of the month that I worried less about what my face looked like on a day to day basis. At work, the bathroom mirror is the first thing you see when you walk in. When I wore make-up, I would consistently stop and pick at/ fret over my face: if a blemish was showing, if my make-up seemed un-even, etc. During my month without make-up, I noticed by the end that I spent less and less time putzing over my face. The make-up seemed to be the cause of my fretting before; now, since I didn't have any on, there was no need (though I did find new things on my face to fret over once in awhile, like during the week our tweezers at home decided to stop grabbing hairs; my eyebrows got a lot of panicked attention that week.)

Why did I wear make-up before? Knowing that my sweet, hot husband couldn't tell the difference from when I wore it or didn't suddenly made me wonder why I kept wearing it. To feel more professional? Maybe, but if Nate didn't notice it, I doubt my bosses (both men) cared. Because other women around me were wearing it? Maybe, but it's not like when I was single and felt like I had to "compete" (and seriously, why do we do that, ladies??). So, ultimately, when I broke it all down, I was wearing make-up for myself.

Did I like that outcome?

No, it made me cringe inside.

This little experiment made me realize I don't really like make-up; if that's the case, why wear it? I will hang on to it and wear it on special occasions (bridesmaid in a wedding, fancy night out with Nathan, etc) but I feel like in that context, it is more of an accessory that fits the occasion, instead of a need or habit. Instead, I'll stick to my face washing regime and my mascara/eyeshadow.

Now that this experiment is over, I'll have to try to blog more regularly on life itself. Unless I can find another experiment/project. :)