The day I stopped wearing makeup every day was the BEST day of my life.

Stop. Pause. Rewind. Sarah not wearing makeup is somehow the best decision of her life????? I know what you guys are thinking, who are you and what have you done with Sarah? Well, let me tell you a thing about a thing.

I used to wear a full face of makeup every. single. day. Didn’t matter what was happening, didn’t matter how much sleep I got that night, all through High School and my first few years of college I couldn’t leave the house without makeup on. Not only did I want to put on makeup to cover up certain imperfections, but I genuinely loved putting it on, it was my me time in the morning. By junior year of college, I had it down do a science and could do a FULL face of makeup in about 20 minutes or less. I remember in High School, not wanting to wake up early enough to put on makeup at home, and doing it in school outside of my homeroom on the floor. When I took the bus I had to be at the stop by 6:30am and when I drove to school senior year, I had to leave no later than 6:50am or else I wouldn’t get a spot in the senior lot. This meant that I got to school insanely early and had about 45 minutes to do whatever I pleased. Instead of doing homework, which I probably should’ve been doing, I filled the time by socializing with friends and putting on my face outside of Ms. Levine’s biology room or Dr. Barrow’s Physics room. Moving on to my college years, I didn’t have many early classes, I’ve been lucky and have only had 2 8ams in my career, so I had more time to get ready and dressed for class.

I’m not sure when I stopped doing my makeup every day, but I think it started the summer before Junior year when I started working at a company that was a 5 minute commute from my house. The perk of working 5 minutes away from your house is being able to sleep as late as physically possible, and that summer I did everything in my power to get as much sleep as possible. I made my lunch, picked my outfit, and packed my bag all the night before work so that when I woke up all I would have to do is brush my teeth and throw on clothes. This meant skipping my morning makeup routine and opting for sleep. This then carried over into the school year, until makeup was completely out of my morning routine, even when I didn’t have to get up early.

You’re probably thinking that more sleep is the only perk to this, well nope! It’s not! Because I’m not caking my face with makeup every day and sweating through it and whatnot, my skin has been able to breathe and my acne has been at an all time low. I still have bad flare-ups from time to time, but for the most part, my skin is happier and healthier. This isn’t to say that you can’t wear makeup and have good skin, because you can, but my skin does better when it’s bare and natural. Aside from my new fresh face, I have saved money because I stopped repurchasing new products so often, which if you know me, is always a plus. I am about as broke as Jeff Bezos is rich, so not having to repurchase expensive makeup as frequently as I used to is definitely a perk.

Not wearing makeup has also helped me get over my insecurities regarding my face big time. I used to HATE showing my face, or taking pictures when I didn’t have foundation on because I hated how my acne looked. If I didn’t have big red pimples on my face, I had so much texture and I was insanely insecure about it. None of my friends had acne as bad as I did (or that’s what I thought at least), and none of the makeup gurus I watched had bad cystic acne like I did. I tried the dermatologist thing, but I was horrendous at remembering to take pills or put medication on my face, so that quickly stopped. But by allowing myself to not wear makeup daily made me realize that no one is actually judging me for my acne, and I slowly but surely became more comfortable without putting makeup on on a daily basis. I still have a long way to go, I still don’t like not having makeup on when I know photos are going to be taken, but I also think that stems from a childhood of being in dance recitals and needing bronzer and blush to make it look like I was alive.

In conclusion, not wearing makeup every day has:
1. given me more sleep
2. fixed my busted face
3. made me feel better about myself and my flaws

Take this blog post for whatever you want. If you’re someone who wants to wear makeup every day, all the power to you. Honestly shout out to you because I, of all people, know how much effort it takes to get up that much earlier and put it on.  This is a judge free blog, and I am in no way telling you that you shouldn’t wear makeup every day, I’m just telling you why I don’t and why I love it. If that influences you in any way, good for you! If you couldn’t care less, good for you too!