When you’re not that into make-up

There was once a time when makeup within our geography only meant the face would be plastered with a foundation ten times lighter than the actual skin colour and the eyes would be made to look no less dramatic than Sauron's ablaze eyeballs. But now the times they are a changin'.

Now, makeup is all about enhancing the natural features with rocket-science innovations like contouring and cut-crease. As much as it has become a world of indulgence, many girls like myself would still just tiptoe around it rather than immerse ourselves in it. Due to this, there are certain situations we have to go through.

HANGOUTS TEND TO GET A BIT PROBLEMATIC

On graceful gatherings, you just have to grit your teeth and keep praying that the topic of discussion does not get diverted to makeup or makeup artists. All is well until that one curious friend asks another what colour shade she is wearing on her lips and that's that. You keep zoning out among all the heated, passionate exchange of dialogues about famous brands (don't ask me to name names) until the colour of your lipstick is questioned and all you can do is shrug.

SLEEP OVER MAKEUP ANY DAY

You don't really understand how girls manage to wake up early and apply that perfect highlighter more blinding than the sun's rays but you do appreciate it. Yet, you'd rather just get an extra hour of beauty sleep and glow naturally. Even if you do get up early once in a while and have to apply makeup for a morning affair, your Zombie-fied movements in the morning would prevent you from doing so. Removing makeup from your face is also a drag after a long day and it cuts away from your sleep time.

MAKEUP GROUPS ARE NOTHING SHORT OF A NUISANCE

You keep getting added to all the social media makeup groups by random people just because you were born with XX-chromosomes. Once a member, it's a unique world of "appis" where the admin of the group thinks of herself as nothing short of a dictator of a virtual country. You keep removing yourself from those but it's a resilient process.

YOUTUBE MAKEUP ARTISTS AMAZE YOU

The sheer dedication to geometry the beauty vloggers show while drawing a perfectly winged eyeliner is worth being worshipped but you would rather concentrate that much in trigonometry. You admire the unstained set of brushes and all those expensive sets of mascaras but don't mind using your own expired one. Wrapping your head around the chronology of the 5-6 layers of makeup is extremely difficult and thus the only layer you would allow on your face is a coating of dust. Also, the realisation is profound that good makeup accessories would cost you a fortune every time you buy them.

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE HOW PRECIOUS YOUR FRIENDS ARE

On certain occasions when makeup gets mandatory, your friends diss you first for your poor brush stroking skills but then proceed to help you out and do it themselves. All that feel good support does not end there. They frequently flood you with compliments on how great you look naturally and that is a major implosion of dopamine.

IT IS NOT A WAY OF LIFE

You have grown tired of explaining your lack of interest towards makeup. People come inquiring whether you are a tomboy or if you are trying to establish a statement or worse, revolting against the makeup industry. In my case, some have actually gone far enough to assume that I hate makeup fans. But the truth is in fact the opposite and I cannot emphasise enough on how precious lipstick is to me even though I cannot name or identify them.

The decision on whether to be keen on makeup or not is subjective and there is absolutely nothing wrong with either of the choices. It's just that some of us would like to look natural effortlessly, without following any makeup tutorials on "How to look natural in 55 steps".

Iqra suffers from wanderlust, dreams of discovering the Loch Ness Monster and occasionally complains about Economics. Tell her to get a life at iqra.kashmir53@gmail.com