“Am I beautiful?” – 3 Ways I Aim to Help Women through Makeup
My close friends and family know how much I love makeup… but really it’s more than just makeup to me. Through my teenage years I had my fair share of body-image and self esteem issues (who didn’t). I found myself questioning my own beauty and even doubting that I was beautiful. This sounds like such a trivial question but somehow for us women, so much of our perception of our self worth lies on the answer to this question. “Am I beautiful?”
As my first official blog post, I thought it only natural to share my inspiration behind why I started my blog and why my passion for beauty gives me fire in my belly! I wouldn’t necessarily classify myself as the best writer, so forgive me for breaking any writing rules :). My focus is to be real and raw. To speak from the heart on deeper concepts on beauty as well as draw on my experience as a makeup artist to share tips and tricks.
Digging Deeper
I remember attending a workshop when I was 18 and listening to Motivational Speakers and Educators, Jonathan and Karen Doyle, speak at a conference. Karen gave a presentation on the ‘Feminine Genius’ and made reference to the deepest longing of a woman’s heart being that feeling of being “chosen”, loved and cherished. This resonated with me and sparked a flame which really inspired me to learn more about myself through my identity as a “woman”, what this meant, understanding how we work and what our deepest longings and desires are. I thought that from here, I not only can become the best version of myself (by “knowing myself”) but that it can also be an avenue to help other women. I thought that if we can understand ourselves well, we can make more informed decisions about what will/won’t make us happy. From here we can all strive to be a better friend, sister, girlfriend, wife, mum and work professional.
Taking this train of thought further, a couple of years ago I had the privilege of running some workshops with The All.u.re Workshop which is an organisation aimed at promoting positive body image for women. One of the key things I learnt as a workshop facilitator and working with young women is that somehow, as women, we measure our capacity to be loved based on whether or not we are beautiful. I connected the dots between this statement and the notion of women longing to feel loved and cherished. It’s in our female nature.
No wonder why women are obsessed with beauty! If we think that “beauty = love” then who the heck wouldn’t want to be beautiful! The best part is…. WE ALL ARE! In our own unique ways!
So why did I start a blog?
As I mentioned in my Interview with SO Magazine, I’d really like to help break down stereotypes. That “wearing makeup makes you superficial” or “not wearing makeup means you don’t care about your appearance”.
My mission is to spread this notion of holistic beauty like wildfire in a society that constantly tells us how we should look, what to buy next etc. Let’s face it, I love products too, but my mission is to help women find the balance. That the inside is just as important as the outside and also adopting a healthy attitude towards using makeup. Like with anything, a healthy medium and balance is key.
With that I’d like to share with you my goals through my blog:
1. To Educate
I mentioned before that I believe that we all possess our own unique beauty. As such, I’d love to be able to share makeup and skincare tips and tricks to help you achieve a makeup look that helps you enhance your unique features.
2. To Challenge
In case my rant above wasn’t enough, if our inner beauty is just as important as the external then naturally I’d love to keep exploring deeper insights to beauty because beauty is not 2 dimensional. My brand is more than pretty faces, we want beautiful souls too. I want to go beyond what you put on your face and explore matters of the heart and mind.
3. To Inspire
To help women discover and appreciate the reality of their own personal beauty. Beauty isn’t what you put on in the morning. It radiates from within from a wholesome and healthy way of life. I hope that by doing what I do I can help you feel more comfortable in your own skin and really make an impact by giving you some practical tips on how to live out this type of beauty in your everyday life. I’d really like to inspire the type of beauty which is focused on others rather than only on oneself. A beauty which is magnanimous and brings out the best in yourself and those around you.
If you have any tips, tricks or any questions you’d like me to write about please feel free to send them to me at [email protected]. I’d really love to be able to write about real issues that women face whether they be big or small!
Marianne Fidel | Makeup Artist