NOW PANIC and FREAK OUT!

It started with lipstick.

I’m the kind of girl who grew up thinking makeup was for harlots.  Good girls like Sharon Cuneta don’t have to wear makeup — she’s just naturally beautiful.  Contrast this with Janice Jurado, Cherie Gil and Celia Rodriguez (among many others), who cannot seem to step out of their respective evil lairs without at least five coats of smoky eyeshadow and contoured cheekbones.

The vamp and the virgin — yep, this little girl bought into that.  I was largely shaped by Pinoy TV dramas and movies; don’t judge.

By the time puberty rolled around, I’d outgrown that silly little notion.  Except this time, I decided that I wouldn’t be that girl who cares about her looks, because that would be shallow.  I’d somehow realized back then that I would never be toasted for my beauty (not Jane Bennett, ergo), in which case I decided that I DIDN’T WANT TO.

High school counter culture, or at least Hollywood’s version of it, dictates that only vapid cheerleader types give a damn about the way they look.  Smart, “real” girls who have more to offer are too secure and intelligent to care about things as unimportant as “makeup” and “looks”.

You may recognize my teenage philosophy as little more than the plot of “Some Kind of Wonderful”. 

Or, if we go by my teachers’ nugget of wisdom: “beauty is useless, character is the best”.

Hogwash.

Absolute hogwash, all of it.

It was in college when I finally realized that wanting to look good was not something I had to shun.  I had to admit that the old au naturel routine was not cutting it anymore. Maybe, just maybe, caring about my looks wouldn’t diminish me at all.

But it was a difficult path. I had to take things one step at a time. My mom, for one, didn’t care much for makeup, so I couldn’t expect help from her in that department.  Google wasn’t an option then; I was NOT going to the internet cafe just to surf about makeup. 

So I made efforts, bit by bit, starting with the easiest product ever: lipstick.

The thing about lipstick is that it’s completely brainless.  There’s no need for knowledge or special tools, or tricks and combo moves.  You just part your lips slightly, swipe the tube on your lips, make smacking sounds and you’re good to go.  Of course I realize now that there are certain tricks and tips in applying lip products, but even apes can apply lipstick.

It’s little more than paint by numbers, really.

I started messing with various colors, shifting from really bright red to toned nudes, trying shades left and right.  It helped that lipstick is one of the cheaper makeup wares (hence the term lipstick economics).  I could try a bunch of stuff without breaking the bank.

You have no idea what magic lipsticks can wield.  Your entire face can be completely devoid of makeup, but the moment you swipe that color on your lips, everything changes.  Pick a mute, subdued color and you’re serious as a librarian. Play it up with a bright pink shade and watch the rest of your face come to life, or be fearless in red and watch the world cower in awe.

This doesn’t mean I’m some kind of makeup expert now.  I’d say that at this point I’ve come to terms with my need (and want) to look better than my natural, rolled-out-of-bed face.  I still don’t know how to handle eyeshadows, or contour my cheekbones, but I can now camouflage blemishes, fake a blush and brighten my face with some cheeky lip color like a pro. 

The point, I guess, in this massive rambling thing I call a blog post, is that an interest in makeup is nothing to be ashamed of. There’s a certain misconception in this society that says women shouldn’t be too vain.

Personally, I think this “natural beauty” thing is overrated.

We all need a little help, and as long as you’re not going to the office looking like Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra, you’re fine.