Making it Up

My approach to makeup (and many other things, now that you mention it) is to just try random things and see if they work. I have no idea how to actually put on mascara, though I wear it every day. I literally don't know the difference between powder, concealer, foundation, or anything else beige-y that you put on your skin. So my "Makeup Ideas" pinboard on Pinterest, despite being created months ago, only has 2 pins on it:

Image via Glamour / barrettes from Ban.do

Image from Keiko Lynn

Clearly I like lots of eyelashes. I'll tell my makeup artist to put huge falsies on me. Done and done. I also think I'm going to go au naturel on the skin tone--which of course doesn't mean no powder/concealer/foundation--it means I'm going to show up looking pale as the day I was born. Mr. Unicycle always says he doesn't like it when I use self-tanner or bronzer, not that I ever do a good enough job for it to make a difference anyway. I'm naturally very white. I've never met a whiter person in my life, except my little brother when he was a few hours old. So, since I'm naturally fair and Mr. Unicycle likes it that way, I might as well go with the flow. The lovely ladies above are both pretty white too, and they look hawt!

Now what are your thoughts on lipstick? When I was a kid I would frequently give myself makeovers (but only in the privacy of my own home--I wasn't allowed to wear makeup in public until high school) and they always included lipstick. I just thought that's what all women wore when they did their makeup in the morning. Well, it was the 90s, so maybe I was right? When I finally started wearing makeup fo' realz, I never wore lipstick, and no one else did either. Here's a rare photo of me with lipstick on:

Personal photo

At my bro's wedding in January. I wore bright red lipstick, which you can barely even see. I am small of lip.

Lately I've been wanting to get in on the lipstick trend more and more. I read a few bloggers who wear lipstick regularly, and they look so...cool. That's the only word I can think of to describe it. Lipstick doesn't scream "90s powersuit woman" anymore.

Image via lovelish

Not a good look. Maybe in 10 years this'll be a good look again. But right now, not a good look.

Lipstick suddenly looks cool again, see?

Image via M Loves M

She must own like 50 shades of lipstick, and they all look good on her. Not. Fair.

Image via Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing

I love her whole look, especially that she makes her own clothing. And of course, the ubiquitous lipstick.

A few weeks ago I broke down and actually purchased my first tube of lipstick since the 90s, and, believe it or not, I'm wearing some as I type this. See?

 

Personal pic, obviously.

I was having trouble taking a selfie and my teenage brother stereotypically suggested a mirror shot. It worked! Although the lipstick isn't very obvious in this lighting.

I'm not sure if I like wearing lipstick or not. I'm realizing now that I have an oddly small, narrow mouth, something I never noticed in my pre-lipstick days. I also have a tendency to chew my lips, which is difficult to do when there's lipstick in the way (I guess this is a good thing?). And I felt like I had to downplay the eye makeup in order to accommodate the In Yo' Face lips, but I just ended up looking tired yet oddly made up. Maybe this just isn't my color?

So the age-old debate of whether or not to wear lipstick on my wedding day is still undecided. What do you think? Should I go all out and be fancy on my wedding day? Or should I try to look like "a better version of myself," whatever that means?