Did a friend introduce you to it? Or was it your sister or your mom? Did it happen quickly or take a long time? Or was it something that cropped up spontaneously — pure makeup happenstance — where you were totally oblivious to makeup until the one random day you spotted a particular tube of lipstick and BAM! — fell in love? What’s the story behind your interest in makeup? Here’s mine…
First, I was always fascinated by makeup, but my mom, not really being a girly kind of girl, didn’t keep a lot of it around our house, so I didn’t have many opportunities to play with it until that one fateful day…
I think I was around six or seven at the time. Mom had bought a bunch of stuff (a nice haul!) at a Mary Kay party, but she never wore any of it. It all ended up in a bathroom at home that nobody ever used.
So, I would sneak into the bathroom and hold the eyeshadow palette in my hands, gazing at the untouched pans, and thinking that the palette was just about the coolest thing ever.
One morning, I tried to sneak it out of the bathroom, but it was a total fail. I had it under my Hello Kitty t-shirt, and as soon as I stepped into the hallway, it dropped, landing right in front of my mom, haha!
I didn’t get in trouble, but I’m pretty sure my mom thought the incident was weird…
Fast forward a few years to middle school, where I was surrounded by chicks who wore eyeliner. That was the thing at our school at the time — colorful pencil eyeliners in purple, blue and green.
I wasn’t allowed to wear makeup, and I didn’t dare bring it up with my parents because they were strict, so I just stared in envy at my classmates as they lined their eyes in the bathroom.
This was after everyone doused their hair with Aqua Net, of course. Hello! — it was the late ’80s, and we all had hair out to [ here ].
Then, one day, I found a purple Lancome liner in the band room.
Yes, I was a band geek. I know you can picture it, LOL!
I asked around to see if anyone had lost an eyeliner, but no one claimed it. In no time, I was sharpening the tip with my pencil sharpener and drawing a shaky line along my upper lash line in the girls’ bathroom.
Maaaaaaan, that was it. I was hooked. For the rest of seventh grade, I wore that pencil almost every day. Granted, I had no idea what I was doing with it and looked a hot mess — I wish there had been beauty blogs at the time — but I loved it. I’d put it on in the bathroom at school every morning, and take it off before going home every afternoon. It was my secret beauty ritual, and the unofficial start of my interest in makeup. 🙂
So, my friend. Is there a story behind your interest in makeup? Were you introduced to it by a friend? Did you start wearing it as a teen? Or as an adult? I would love to hear your makeup story in the comments (and please, it doesn’t have to be long or involved). I’d just like to know a little more about you.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Happy hump day!
OMG Karen that story is hilarious! Too funny about finding the eyeliner in the band room!
I don’t quite know where my obsession started.. I have always been mesmerized looking through magazines at the ads and I always admired the makeup on models. I think it just went from looking at it to wanting to actually touch it myself. As far as I can remember makeup and beauty products have been my guilty pleasure.
Your story is great! I don’t have anything nearly as interesting. All of my friends were wearing it and I wanted to try it out!
It was inherited. My grandmother being from the South did not leave her room without her “face” on.
I was bored, depressed, and needed something to do after high school graduation since I had nothing, so I went browsing on YouTube, came across my first makeup video from Leesha, and then my addiction/new hobby happened.
And that turned into me becoming a YouTuber for makeup and blogging.
First of all, I’m about 10 years older than you so you know my era. I grew up in Daly City so I had punk rock looking friends; chola friends and straight up nerdy friends. I was kinda on the nerdy side with parents like yours. Yes, I brought my eyeliner and lipstick with me early in the morning so I can put my eyeliner and lipstick on in the bathroom. My chola friends plucked their eyebrows so high they had to use their eyeliners for eyebrow pencils and lipliners. My punk rock looking friends pack on the blush beneath their cheekbones and line their eyes so dark that they sorta look like zombies. Each had their own way of putting on makeup and I was fascinated but I was the type who always want to look natural even with makeup on. My mom worked at I.Magnin’s (dunno if you remember that store). She had a 30% discount and you know back then makeup wasn’t that expensive. Well, I went to see my mom and I was looking around the makeup area and all of a sudden a lady came up to me and said, “Would you like me to put makeup on you?” So, the rest was history … I made my mom buy all the makeup she put on me (Ralph Lauren brand – they used to sell cosmetics). I had to work at McDonald’s just to keep buying that nudy colored lipstick I wore till I graduated from high school.
of course we all love makeup and girly things. I have a daughter that is almost two and already gets into the make up drawer, loves necklaces, bracelets and tu tus. I think we are born with glitter in our veins!
I think mine happened in like junior year of high school. I always work a little makeup, but my whole family is super artistic and I began to see my face as a canvas and makeup as paints. BOOM. My obsessive love for eyeshadow was born and with the ability to highlight and contour and change my appearance if i felt like having a persona. I loved it.
I think I was 5 or 6 when I started getting into my mother’s makeup stash. Not that it was a large stash, but she always had at least 1 red lipstick (Zinnia from Clinique) and some blue eyeshadow from the GWPs my grandmother would send her. Obviously, blue eyeshadow and red lipstick are the perfect shades to wear together from lash line to brow bone (maybe some forehead too) and smeared across half the mouth. I was fabulous! But the true obsession started 3 years ago when I came across beauty blogs and I haven’t looked back since.
I didn’t really wear makeup until I was 13 or 14, and then it was only eyeliner and shadow. I had gotten a free makeup kit from Seventeen magazine for subscribing to them. The makeup came in a small black mesh zipped bag, and came with a sample sized liner (think it may have been Cover Girl), lip gloss, some eye makeup palettes, and blush. I would read how to apply makeup in beauty books my mom had gotten (Mary Quant being the first one I read) and would try to mimic some of the trends with what little makeup I owned.
I love your story about how you found the Lancome liner. My little Seventeen makeup bag was very cherished when I had it. It was the only makeup I knew for a little while in high school before I’d pick up whatever looked the most interesting at the drugstore or Walmart with Mom. I didn’t discover Sephora until college (on recommendation from a friend who swore by Dior Show Black Out mascara – hence my addiction to that mascara now), and didn’t discover Ulta until Mom and I ventured in one day and saw how much awesome stuff is there. I didn’t know much about blending makeup (especially shadow) until I started reading your blog, and I just learned about contouring from your posts on highlighting and from another blog that I read (I just discovered it through Pinterest today), Maskcara.
I would say mine was mostly a make up “happenstance” lol My mom has always wore make up but nothing too fancy. She had some clinque stuff mostly just boring powder. She is more of a skin care junkie! Anyways so I pretty well grew up running to the beauty isle of Walmart/kmart/target raiding the jane, NYC, and any other cheap teen age goodies. My eyes always gleamed in the department stores when we walked past the make up counter. I started pretty young wearing glitter on my temples everyday in 6th grade. Oh and when I was about 4 I had a purse full of lip smackers (including Dr Pepper) and left it at a resturaunt le sigh! I learned mostly about make up through reading magazines. Until one day a few years back I just came out of my slump I was going through and wanted to do a fancy eye look. I found a tutorial and did a Kim Kardashian look. From them on I became an avid beauty blog reader. Beauty blogs have really helped me break into the higher end stuff as before I would never buy it because it was sooo expensive and I think I just didn’t know where to begin. I have no issues stress shopping for high end goodies now!
Honestly, I wish I could remember how it started. My mom wore makeup, but barely. She didn’t really know many techniques, so I never learned it from her. But, at some point in high school I started experimenting with makeup. I won’t lie: some of it was from Claire’s.
I was 34, recently single after a long term relationship and I had really bad eczema from the stress of work & biz school & the long breakup. My (male) friend told me he watched Michelle Phan’s videos (he had no interest in makeup, just the pretty girl 😛 ) and I got hooked. soon I was following a dozen makeup gurus and beauty bloggers. It was fun to focus on me again and I figured it would help my “curb appeal” as I jumped into the very interesting world of online dating. I look different – so much better now. I can see it in the faces of ex-boyfriends when I run into them…’wow you look SO GREAT’…hahaha. yes. i know. suck it! 😉
you have come a long way haha. I was like 16 and my aunt told me I looked pale so I started wearing lipstick and the eye shadow …slowly learned how to apply it nicely 🙂
Your story is great! I don’t think i really have a story and have been interested in makeup more so than my friends as long as i can remember. But i gotta be honest with you, after having started following beauty blogs, my obsession has gone to a whole new level! Haha
xx
I’m from the South, and you pretty much don’t leave the house without your makeup on (although I do on weekends). I remember watching my mom/aunts apply their makeup and wanting to be able to do that so bad. When I was 12 my mom gave me a Cover Girl blush in the lightest peach for Christmas, and I was over the moon. I can also remember the first time I used brown eyeshadow (maybe at 15?) and thinking “wow, my eyes pop!”
Hehe! Lancome was my intro to makeup as well! The Juicy Tube in Lychee, if I recall correctly!
It was also the brand of my first eyeliner too 🙂
Fond memories!
Nothing really triggered my make-up obsession. It just kind of crept up on me 🙂 I started wearing eye make-up at a fairly young age and I liked going a bit bolder than most people, and I always pushed the bar a bit further after that I guess 🙂
Hi Karen, I became obsessed with makeup when I turned 48 and my face lost it’s beauty due to the aging process. I didn’t need a facelift so I tutned to makeup for a solution. I remember walking into Nordstrom and the SA approached me. I ran away like a scared cat. Any way I went back and fell in love with makeup.
Does makeup make me look 20 again? No of course not but it sure does make me look prettier.
It took me a while to really start wearing makeup. I didn’t really gain any interest until after I turned 21. I started off stalking YouTube videos until I got comfortable enough to play in makeup without them running in the background. I was just hoping to learn how to apply makeup. I never imagined such a passion would grow and that it would inspire me to start my own beauty blog. Crazy how things work!
My parents let me wear makeup at 14, but I never really wore much because my skin was lighter than most shades of foundation and powder. I was high school when Cover Girl came out with their tinted moisturizer and I remember thinking “finally, something that MATCHES!”
However, my makeup obsession didn’t begin until I went shopping for my wedding makeup with my husband. HE’s the one that bought the makeup that was used! But I loved the fact that there was makeup that matched my skin. I’m sure he’s regretted buying the makeup since though. 😉
I started wearing makeup seriously last year, when I turned 29. It was partially brought on by a feeling of getting older, and partially because I was just then separating from my husband. I cried very easily, and I knew that it was causing problems for me at work. Makeup served a twofold purpose for me in the beginning. One, I didn’t want to cry at work and smudge all of my efforts, or waste the money on makeup that I purchased and then just cried off. And two, putting it on and taking it off was akin to putting on and taking off my armor. When I did my makeup in the morning, I felt like I was putting my game face on, and I looked prettier, more confident, ready for anything. When I took my makeup off in the evening, I could relax, because there was nobody around to see me or question me, or wonder if I was okay. I didn’t have to worry about putting on my best face, because I had just taken it off. After a couple of months, I was hooked. Now that I am happily divorced and living my own life, I wear makeup because I like it 🙂
OH, and because I’m now in my 30’s and it’s necessary.
So funny that you posted this question today — I just started a blog yesterday that goes into that very question, lol. Although my blog only answers part of it. I too was a teen in the 80’s — high school throughout the first half of the decade when purple and blue was the go to shade for just about everything you put near your eyes. My mom wore makeup (Estee Lauder) and at Christmas time she would buy the big huge sets they had and I always ended up with a few of the items. Two things happened to end my teen makeup obsession. I was at the grocery store one day with no makeup on, and bumped into some people from school. I was mortified that they saw me looking so horrible, sans makeup. It was a wakeup call that I was depending on it too much for self esteem. I also wear contact lenses, and more and more the eye makeup was bothering my eyes to the point that I couldn’t wear it everyday.
Fast forward 20+ years, and some changes in my life sparked a renewed passion, and the discovery that today’s formulas don’t bother me at all. That’s what my blog is about — the transition from stay-at-home mom to concert groupie now that my husband has gone back to music and is headlining his own show.
Looking forward to your reviews on the Milani products. I’ll be attending IMATS on the 18th, and may pick up a few things as I think they have a booth. Some of those lip colors look great.
My mom always wore makeup, so by junior high, I was rockin’ Liz Arden and Bonne Bell-ha :)She took my sisters and I to the makeup counters with her, so it was a pretty natural thing for us to do.
My obsession with make up goes back to as far as I can remember. I remember my Grandma had an Avon lady and would always order me the flavored lip balms and the little hand creams. Then sometimes she would have those little mini trial lipsticks she would give me. I thought that was just the best thing ever! I also remember going to the local grocerie store with my mom and I would disappear to the make up aisle and just stand there and stare at all the makeup. And back then, in the early 80’s there was no where near the selection that’s out today. I haven’t changed a bit only now I am obsessed with Sephora Stores and MAC!!!!!
As a kid, I loved office supplies. Certain pens, pencils, paper… only certain items would do. Also art supplies. It was a natural connection that in my teens, I realized I could have even more “office supply” coolness if I had pens to draw on my body… like makeup. And a fascination was born.
I’ve never had a lot of makeup or worn a lot of makeup regularly (most people don’t even notice what I do wear). BUT each piece I have was very carefully selected… office supply fascination continues!
My first major memory of makeup was around 2nd grade. My mom kept her makeup case on the counter in the bathroom. At night, I would go into the bathroom and play with it! I would be in there for hours! I still remember getting caught – My parents basically broke down the door one night – as I was trying to scrub the pink lipstick and blue eye shadow off!
Ever since I can remember, I have loved makeup. My mom wears a bit, my sister not much. I used to get into my mom’s lipstick, and smear it all over my lips.(coloring outside the lip line) They thought it was hilarious. They would hold pillows over their faces so I wouldn’t hear them laugh. I thought I looked great! The folks even bought a decorative plate of a painting of a little girl putting on lipstick outside the lip line!
My story of how I got into makeup is a little different. I was a dancer/cheerleader in school, so had to wear makeup for those things. I sort of thought it was a chore to deal with then. After high school, I was in a really bad (abusive) relationship. When that ended, I turned to makeup to feel better about myself. It really was something that helped when I felt my worst.
I read in the book by The Beauty Brains that makeup is worn for camouflage and/or enhancement. Based on Internet chatter, it seems like many enjoy makeup for enhancement. However, my interest in makeup is primarily for camouflage. If I didn’t feel compelled by society to conceal acne, I would probably never have started researching makeup.
Whoo! This is a fascinating subject to me. Makeup~! Just the word makes my heart beat a little faster. My mother was part of why I became interested in all the ‘do not touch’ items crammed in the bathroom drawer. Jewels of every color resided within; purple cakes of eyeshadow, pink tubes of lipstick, and the forbidden RED lippy. There were liners, ‘roll on’ mascaras (really dating myself here lol) and foundation and blushes. She told me “I am a big woman anyway, so I take care of myself so people know that I value myself.” That struck a chord. When I started buying my own, it opened up a brand new world! To this day, I am partial to anything purple on my eyes, and a bright lip. My husband calls makeup “crayons for big girls”, and he is SO right! On our first trip to a store together as a budding couple, he took me to a cosmetics place along the lines of Ulta/Sephora and he said “Why don’t you just get what you want?!” Hoo baby…I filled up that basket, and nearly 34 years later we are still together. I’m still filling baskets (real and virtual!) and he is still bemused at how much I love my precious stash.
Behold the power of makeup!
I’ve alaways enjoyed makeup. I remember I used to look at my mom put on makeup when she and my dad were going out and I wished could, one day’ do that too. I started wearing the usual lipsmackers when I was in middle school and sometimes my older sister would put makeup on me for fun (she received a set of mkeup palettes when she was 16) and I started wearing mascara and a neutral eyeshadow sometimes at school. On of my cousin who is a MUA gave me a M.A.C quad for my birthday and for a while, it was the only bright eyeshadows I had.
When I was 15 I shaved my head to raise money for cancer awareness and I realised that I needed to wear makeup and jewelry more if I didn’t want to be mistaken for a boy. I started getting a little bit more into makeup a that time. That same year I went to my friend’s prom and she did my makeup (a vintage look with red lipstick and winged eyeliner) and I totally loved it. I started to buy lipsticks and more makeup, I started reading beauty blogs and watching beauty gurus on youtube.
I was 13 years old when my mom took me into a Sephora for the first time. We were on a trip in Charlotte, NC, just the two of us, and she wanted to introduce me to makeup. One of the employees sat me down in a chair and gave me a mini makeover with a Stila kitten eyeshadow and a black kohl eyeliner. He showed me how to use them and I couldn’t believe how great just two products made me look. My interest in makeup has improved over the years and my collection has skyrocketed, and once I graduate from college I am going to go to school to become a makeup artist. It is my passion!
I first became interested in makeup when I was thirteen. I had an injury and was forced to leave the tennis team. My counselor transferred me to Play Production, the only open class that worked with my schedule. I loved it! I became fascinated by the transformation that makeup could work and discovered I had quite a knack for applying it–transforming a pimply faced boy into a middle aged dad, a baby faced girl into an elderly grandma, etc. And then there was the glamor makeup–Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, etc. I soon had everyone asking me to do their makeup whenever they had scenes to perform. My interest carried on into senior high school, but of course, by that time I was also applying the craft to myself 🙂 I’ve been in love with makeup for over 56 years and don’t see any sign of my interest waning.
I was gifted a pink toy cell phone that had makeup inside it when I was about 7 or 8. It had blushes, lipsticks, and eyeshadows as well as sponge applicators for the eyeshadow and a brush for blush. And I used to pile on that blush! I now know better than that! After that I left makeup and rekindled my love in 9th or 10th grade. Haven’t looked back since!
My interest in makeup didn’t start until I was 21. A bit late, I know, but I love it now! A break up and a MA from Sephora got me to like makeup, which is strange for me.. I didn’t like makeup until I was 21, in fact, I hated it. I hated it because of my mother and my ex.
My mother used to take an hour a day to put on her ‘face’. I didn’t mind that, but I did mind the fact that we were always late to dinners, meetings, playdates and what not because she refused to leave the house without makeup on. It was embarrassing to always be late. When I was 15, she tried to force me to wear concealer and foundation to conceal the flaws in my face.. According to her I didn’t look good enough so I ‘needed’ to wear makeup. Then I started dating a guy that tried to pressure me into wearing makeup for him, so I would look good for him. That left me insulted, like i wasn’t good enough, not pretty enough without makeup on.
After breaking up I decided to put on makeup, just to spite him and my mother. I never did it before when they were nagging for it, so I was going to do it then, when I wanted to. I walked into Sephora and a wonderful MA did the makeup for me and on that day I started to love makeup 🙂
My interest began in junior high school. I wasn’t allowed to wear makeup but I found an old blush my mom discarded, snuck it out, and applied it on my way to the bus in the morning! Eventually in high school I was allowed to wear makeup, which I did to fit in and also to hide my pimples and oily face. I used this awful Clinique product as a foundation that was for oily skin. It was watery, but must have had a powder suspension because it separated while it sat and you had to shake it up before you could apply it with a cotton ball. I looked like I had chalk on my face! By college I started figuring out that other brands and products in Clinique were much better suited for me and gave better results. I nearly always wear a little makeup, still. A complete face for workdays and more limited on weekends. But the magical, transforming nature of makeup is addictive!
I was 13, and one day I just discreetly started using this light blue eyeshadow pencil that belonged to my older sister. I didn’t wear any other makeup, but I smeared this light blue pencil stuff all over my eyelids every morning for a week. Finally, I felt guilty and fessed up to my sister, and she took me to WalMart and helped me pick out an equally terrible pink glittery eyeshadow, which I wore for about two years. At that point, I started wearing nude eyeshadow and brown eyeliner with mascara for a more natural look, but I don’t think I started wearing any kind of face makeup (foundation, concealer, blush) until college. Now I can’t imagine just wearing eyeshadow and nothing else. It just looks so incomplete without at least some mascara, and it just makes my undereye circles stand out more if I don’t dab on some concealer!
I had just lost my mom and turned 45, so my emotions were out of control and I was feeling pretty low. Having a conversation with myself in the mirror one day, I said, “Momma, how do I get out of this slump?” In the back of my mind I heard, “Fix yourself up. You’ve got to love yourself inside and out before you can be happy.” The next day, I picked up a few items, and it’s been a love affair every since.
I think your Momma and my Momma are up in Heaven now saying: “Hope those girls are remembering what we told ’em!” We can honor them by wearing makeup and it makes us all happy! Can’t lose, can we?!
I grew up in the late 70’s/early 80’s, and Glamour magazine was my bible for all things – clothes, hair, makeup. My mom didn’t wear makeup except for the occasional swipe of lipstick, although she had a few of those Avon mini lipstick samples and one regular size orange one (I still love orange/coral!) She also had an old cake of Maybelline mascara that I SO wish I still had just for the nostalgia factor – mascara used to come in a cake, like LM’s cake liner. You’d wet a brush, rub it on the mascara cake then brush it on your eyelashes. I would try it on and my mom would make me wash my face. I finally convinced my parents to let me wear the shadow and mascara (Maybelline Great Lash) in 8th grade, along with the Bonne Bell lipsmakers or Maybelline Kissing Potions (was a roll on clear lipgloss.) My love for high end cosmetics started soon after that – I saved baby sitting money to buy Clinique when they had a GWP (minimum purchase was $9.99!) Ah, those were the days 🙂 I used to spend lots of time in the cosmetic aisle of the local drug and discount stores, so really, the only thing that’s changed for me is the amount of money I spend on said “hobby”. I was always into skincare thanks to Glamour, who introduced us to French skincare ideas and am proud to say people regularly think I’m five or ten years younger because of it. Thanks Karen for letting me stroll down memory lane!
Loved makeup all my life. Totally influenced by a makeup loving Mom who kept and continues to keep makeup, perfume, etc in abundance. Suffered from makeup burnout in my 30’s and reduced everything to just hair/skin care, moisturizer, mascara and lipstick. Focused on working out and fitness for the next 10 years. Had a heart attack on Halloween 2012, 2 days after Hurricane Sandy with no electricity or power in the house (NYC native). Did I mention I worked out with my personal trainer the day before Sandy? Turns out rotten family history (both granddads died of heart attacks in their 40’s). Working out and eating clean saved my life. If I hadn’t been taking care of myself prior to heat attack I would’ve died. I was the youngest cardiology patient in my hospital after the Hurricane. During my recovery, rediscovered my love for makeup. Back in FULL makeup mode. I’m cuter, stronger and recovering.
I need that phone case. No, but I like really, REALLY need it! Wheeeeeeerrrreeee?!
Your story is hilarious. I can just see how you would think you would get in so much trouble for taking her palette.
I don’t remember a specific moment but I always loved wearing makeup. I think it was the 6th grade when I was allowed to wear it to school, and I celebrated by layering the most sparkly eye shadow all over the lid (usually blue, but I remember some phases of yellow, eek). I had a stackable loose eyeshadow tower from Delias (?) that I used every day, with fallout o’plenty. I’ve been into perfumes as long as I can remember though, starting out with body mists and graduating into cheap perfumes in middle school and finally into high end perfume in high school. I was probably the only nerdy girl wearing Givenchy perfume in the school, as none of my friends were into beauty, really. (Band geek, represent! :P)
My mum gave me a small bottle of Polo Romance EDP when I was in high school! I only wore it on special occasions. I bought myself a proper bottle in university and that is the exact scent that captured my husband (then bf)’s heart. Mum knows best huh? :p
Hello Karen! Your story is so funny! Like you, my mum was very strict about not wearing makeup. She only allowed me to wear her pinkish lipstick to my high school ball (COULD YOU EVER IMAGINE THAT??!)! Anyway, I started becoming interested in university but then it was only black eyeliner. Then I had a book by Bobbi Brown, but my interest was limited only to powder, lipstick & eyeliner.
And about a decade later, I was hooked on watching Michelle Phan youtube tutorials (after my cousin, a professional MUA posted one of Michelle’s video in Facebook) while I sat there expressing breast milk (you know those minutes could be so boring). And from there, it developed into reading beauty blogs (I love yours!) and massive buying… :p
I used to watch eyeshadow tutorials while pumping too…that sparked 2 eyeshadow palettes throughout the years, lol! Now, my girls play in lipgloss…hehe….they’re just like their Mommy 🙂
I love that story! 😀 Makeup was equally an intimidating fascination for me. My mom did Mary Kay for a long time, was a senior sales director who traveled a lot, but she was a proponent for looks I couldn’t identify with, or wasn’t interested in. So despite all my access to it, I went au naturel anyways. I almost never wore makeup in middle/high school because I was afraid people would notice (um, duh, haha!). I just did not have the confidence! Then my teenage skin got bad, so I was introduced to foundations/concealers. Then mascara, to brighten the eyes. And after I’d mastered that, I thought, wow, blush is so pretty… it was like dominoes in slow motion, really 🙂 I am full-on into it as of last year, probably, although I’ve been loving it regularly for 6-8 years. Just started buying more high-end brands and experimenting with my looks. Life is too short to skip out on berry balm stains and smokey cat eyes! 🙂
My interest in makeup didn’t begin until I was an adult (24). I was going to get married. I wanted something to help even out my skin tone, yet look like me in pictures. I went to Sephora and was completely overwhelmed. I ran out as quickly as I ventured in, lol. I then went to MAC. I told the MUA what I wanted and basically she did the opposite. I was horrified and wanted to cry. A few days later I ventured into a Bare Escentuals boutique. I was skeptical, but was completely blown away when I saw myself. I looked like myself, but polished. LOVE! I got a few things and a brush….sealed deal! Hooked! Nearly 10 years later and still have a thing for makeup and ALL of it’s glory 🙂
You are very determined about it! I would have given up completely after the experience in Sephora & MAC! :p
Mine is simple and short: I admired Marilyn Manson’s smoky eyes and red lip combo, ha! I really wanted to know *how* people did that. Then I started to look for the perfect purple eyeshadow and lipstick, and it all went downhill for my wallet…
As a 37 year old woman looking back on my child, teen, and young adult years, I think my fascination with makeup started at a young age. To this day, I remember being a child and going with my mom to Broadway Department Store (a department store that in those days was almost equivalent to Macy’s.) where she would purchase makeup products from the Clinique counter. In high school, my mom allowed me to wear makeup and would purchase a few makeup products for me from Clinique, Garden Botanika, MAC, Cover Girl, and Jane Cosmetics. As I look back now to when I got married to my husband in 2002, I remember how proud I was of my small makeup collection, which was a total of one bottle of MAC foundation, one MAC powder compact, five Cover Girl eyeshadow trios, two MAC blushes, two MAC lipsticks, two MAC lipglosses, and one tube of L’Oreal mascara. As I read more fashion/beauty magazines and spent more time at the mall, I found myself purchasing more makeup, especially department store makeup products. During certain years in the past when I gained some significant amount of weight I would purchase makeup products over clothes because I knew that I could be any size and could still wear/use all of my makeup products. Makeup would always fit no matter if I gained weight. Now today in 2014, I am definitely a makeup fan and have quite an extensive makeup collection filled with a large variety of both department store and drugstore products, which I thoroughly enjoy using.
My girlfriend is really talented and into makeup and as a keen photographer I began looking more into fashion and makeup as a way to broaden my horizons and now it is pretty much all I do. Look and play with cameras and look at fashion and makeup online. So yeah!
Well… I used to put makeup on when I was a teen just to go out dancing… with very luminous and dark lipsticks and smoked eyes! LOL
But I really started in makeup (read “be obsessed with it”) when I was on my post graduation and use none makeup… I always went to the secretary to solve some problems and the girls from there (Hi Ana and Sil), my big friends in “makeup crime” now, always complain that I look tired, “white” (yes, white… and yes it is more than pale LOL) and things like that… So, they introduce me again in makeup and I introduce the girls in “international makeup” with brands that we do not have in BR, like MAC, MUFE, NARS, UD, INGLOT and others (nothing like teach your friend how to make and ebay and paypal account LOL). Poor international credit cards!!!!
I’m 29 years old & I got married 2 years ago. Back then, I knew nothing about makeup. I bought my first foundation from a local brand for my wedding. It was so matte & of wrong shade that it made my face look so dry & ghostly. My best friend, who was present when I did my makeup said nothing at all. I did not realise how horrible I looked untill my wedding photographer came up to me & told me otherwise. Boy, was it embarrasing ! I never show my wedding pics to anybody. Gosh, how I wish I knew all this a little early. well, thats when I felt I should atleast have some basic knowledge about makeup. But now, its a way of life. In the beginning i was hesitant to go out with makeup on. Gradually, I learned things & now I just love the change it has brought in the way I look. Thanks to all makeup bloggers. I still do not know much. But i’m learning. Now any of friends plan to get married, my first question to them is how they plan on doing their makeup…
Karen, I love your story!My first makeup encounter was when I was 9 or 10. My parents and I had been invited to some fancy dinner at a nice restaurant and when I went to find the bathroom I accidentally stumbled upon a powder room. There was a small bowl filled with small trial lipsticks on the vanity and I rummaged through them and picked a pinky plum to put on. When I returned to the table I couldn’t keep my mind off of the lipsticks and went back again before nwe left to pick a nude and a bright red to take with me. I’d never felt so grown up in my life.
I never wore them outside, only ever afterschool fir dress up, but I attribute my love of lippies to those trial lipsticks.
Mine obsession started when I was very young, maybe grade seven? It was back just before the “scene” days when I wore thick black eyeliner around my eyes, and then I would put dots all around my eyes, and I had a faze where I was obsessed with colour and being as bright as possible! Eventually I toned down because of depression. Fast forward to two years ago, I had to decide what I wanted to do with schooling, so I picked Visual Communications! I wanted to retouch photos because I thought they looked beautiful and I wanted to make them look beautiful too! Two years later, I’m in my second year and I now know I do want to be an artist, but I want to be a MAKEUP ARTIST! It took me awhile to have this realization but I will accomplish it! Sometimes it just takes awhile for you to realize your dreams!
I was such a tomboy that my mother actually talked me into wearing some eye makeup for my 7th grade class picture. I wondered who on earth would take time to mess around with makeup when they were just going to sweat it off playing sports. HAHA! I got into it a little more a year or two later because of my friend’s glamorous sister (whose eye makeup we would try to emulate), but I’ve always been sort of a “wear the same thing every day” kind of gal.
What REALLY got me into at least seriously looking at different kinds of makeup, even if I didn’t use it all, was much more recent. I had to read blogs for work and this was one of them. I loved your writing and personality so much that I’ve kept reading. Literally this is the only makeup or beauty blog that I read. And, it’s one of only 2 blogs that I look at regularly. So, short version is that I have an interest in makeup because you make it fun to read about! 🙂
My mom was the first one to introduce me to makeup. She’s always been a Lancôme addict, but she also used Clinique and various drug store brands. Before she married my dad, she worked the Revlon counter at the nearby Air Force base BX (she said she sold a lot of Charlie perfume!). I remember loving the little girl makeup kits, especially Tinker Belle and Hello Kitty (omg, the big Sanrio store in San Fran was my FAVE when we lived in NorCal). As I grew older, my mom would pass on her makeup to me, like pieces she didn’t like in the gift-with-purchase. I started wearing makeup regularly in 6th grade (hello Jane Cosmetics!) and I remember in 8th grade when she took me to the grocery store to help me buy my first foundation and mascara (it was Max Factor, I really miss that brand). And then a Sephora finally opened near me when I was in high school, it all went downhill from there! What I love most about makeup is COLOR. Palettes are my kryptonite, especially Urban Decay, I have enough to last me a couple of lifetimes! But I use a little bit of everything, my stash varies from ELF to Chanel.
When I was 5 (maybe younger) I used to steal my Mom’s Avon lipstick samples. My favorite was called Crystal Rose. Since they were so small I thought they were “kid” sized. LOL I used to ask my Mom if I could have it and she would always say no.
Around the same time, my Dad helped a woman in town open a modeling and charm school. My Dad used to take pictures for the local news papers, and also weddings, etc. So, I got to go to the school for free. WOO HOO – I’m gonna learn makeup, I’m gonna learn makeup! NOPE, “no no P. you’re much too young to learn makeup yet”
…sniff…
fast forward to ’78 – I’d developed bad habits from hanging out with the punks, greasers, jocks, art students, band members you name it I was the kid with friends from all clicks so I had a lot of interesting habits. ANYway,I went back to the school and asked Kay if I could get a refresher course. SHe said, “of course” and I said, “and you can teach me makeup” and she said, “Oh, P. you’re much too advanced for any makeup class we could teach you.”
REALLY? well, there you have it – I LOVE all the pretty colors and playing with them. I can’t wear them the way I used to and sometimes that makes me sad so I just buy some jewelry or nice boots. LMFAO
I still have a Sephora/Ulta in my bedroom.
I love reading your blog because I pick up tips on new products and how to use them. ALso, the anti-aging techniques today are amazing. THank Goddess!
I occasionally wore makeup in high school. Mostly, my mom insisted on picking it out, and she bought me what she wore, despite me being four shades lighter than her (AT LEAST) and with different eyes and hair. (She also picked out my clothes until I was 14, until she made me wear lemon yellow shorts to Sea World on the day I kept making vague, embarrassed protests. TAKE A WILD GUESS.) I was allergic to everything she bought, so I was never comfortable with wearing it, and finally stopped not long after I was raped at age 17. (My parents still don’t know about that, and I’ll be 37 this month.)
Anyway, I ended up in an abusive marriage, due to lingering issues from my Big Childhood Trauma (which happened when I was 11, and is still the worst event of my life) and a need to get away from my overly demanding parents. The marriage included every kind of abuse you can imagine, over and over and over for eight and a half years, until I got kicked out for a woman living on the other side of the country, whom asshat had been flying in to join him on business trips, and who believed I knew about her and that I was okay with it.
So I moved in with my BFF on less than 24 hours notice, lost my cats (whom I recently had to rescue due to life-threatening neglect, apart from the one who died of a broken heart), missed a bunch of work ’cause you can’t do sales while sobbing, and couldn’t get my head straight. The bastard had systematically broken me down until there was nothing but an animated shell. I was frumpy, believed I was ugly and stupid (I have an IQ somewhere around 190), and completely dazed.
One day, I accidentally went to work at 10:00 when I was scheduled to be there at 1:00. The awesome office manager told me to go do something fun. So, in a then-uncharacteristic fit of sass, I went and got my hair chopped from the long mess asshat made me keep, into a tidy Dutch bob. I had some time left, so I decided to wander around the mall not far from my workplace. I walked into Dillard’s… and ended up at the Prescriptives counter.
I wore full makeup every single day for the rest of the time I worked at that job, and I still wear it nearly every time I leave the house. I’m sure asshat secretly hates it, but he’s too arrogant to say anything. I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll finally face him in court this year (it’s been five damn years, and he still won’t stop dragging his feet!), complete with my now-platinum pixie cut, and all the makeup I want.
Booyah.
My love of all things make-up is totally traceable to my sister, Lucy… she’s 12 years older than me so she was a teenager in the 80’s when I was quite little and being a typical little sister I was OBSESSED with copying my cool big sis. She was also an art student and I can still vividly remember most of her creations from that time (including a Restoration-style wig made entirely of curled paper, in various shades of pink and purple – I can even remember how it smelled when I tried it on. Very carefully, of course). Lucy wore a lot of the classic 80’s make-up trends: blue eyeliner, frosted pink lipstick, poofy hair…etc. The thing I loved most then was her lipstick – whenever she left the house wearing it I would insist that she give me a peck on the lips so that a little bit would transfer onto mine! I wasn’t allowed to have make-up of my own until I was a lot older, but that clearly left an indelible mark on me as I started buying and experimenting with make up as soon as I could – I think my first purchase was a bottle of dark blue sparkly nail varnish that I got from a school fete when I was around 9 or 10. Fast forward to today and she (in cahoots with my 9-yr-old niece) now rummages around in my extensive collection every time she visits to see what new things I’ve got that she can try on! Thanks for the great article Karen, that’s well and truly taken me down memory lane… xoxo
My obsession also started as a Mary Kay story 🙂
My best friend at the time’s mom just started selling MK and we were her guinea pigs for learning how to apply eye makeup. She was the one who originally taught me the triangle/in-verted v trick with popping eyeshadow on the corner of my eye (a concept that totally blew my mind at the time). Up until then, I had only been wearing coal black eyeliner and mascara to school and it was a nice change to start interacting with eye shadows. I at once purchased a few shadows and a lip gloss from her, as well as ventured to the drugstore and bought my first ever Bonebell quad that I continued to purchase and only use for many years!
Once I got to college, I started doing makeup for my friends in the dorms when we would go out, and I eventually sold MK for a temporary time. That’s definitely where my makeup obsession became full-blown! Once I stopped selling MK I got into trying higher end makeup and also finding good drugstore brands as well. From there I started watching and reading beauty blogs, and I thought “I can do this too!” I started my blog a little over a year ago, and it is truly a hobby that makes me whole. I would love to pursue becoming a makeup artist at some point in my life, but for right now I am content with little corner in the blogosphere world 🙂
Mine is similar to yours in the aspect of keeping it a secret. When I got random extra money when I was around 14 I went and bought a wet n wild eyeliner (the dollar ones). I put it on on the bus ride to school and took it off before my mom picked me up from the bus stop coming home from school. I once forgot to take it off on the ride home and my mom saw it on my eyes. I got in big trouble but it was worth it!
As a school boy I first became interested in make up watching my teacher apply her lipstick and nail polish during class. I wanted to copy what she was doing and went exploring in my mum’s dresser. Unfortunately for me my Mum only wore lipstick and no eye make up which was very frustrating. However when my elder brother started dating his first girlfriend it opened up lots of new possibilities. She would go out for walks with my brother leaving her make up bag behind. It was full of exciting new things for me to try including frosted eye shadows, black eyeliner pencil, mascara and bold lipsticks. I was now a convert and desperate to have my own collection which I could try on a regular basis. However it was not until the internet came around that I could truly express myself with market leading products, colors and practicing techniques from you tube. I now wear nail polish full time, bold colors on toes and neutral on hands, foundation and nude lipstick when going out but transform myself when back home with smoky eyes and red lipstick x
I come from Europe and girls didn’t makeup at all back in the 90. But at 14 I spent the summer in the States and I was amazed by all the girls my age wearing makeup. The following summer I bought my first Estee Lauder powder.
I first wore makeup when I was in junior high at 11. Before this, I always admired my mother’s makeup collection, which I wasn’t allowed to touch after a mishap with my messing up one of her new lipsticks.
I wanted my own collection of makeup from a young age. I started using drugstore makeup at first. Nowadays, I have a collection of drugstore, indie, and higher end brands.