natural beauty vs. make-up

[mspirk]

I found this thread, and being my first day here, I did not read the uncensored post by Homes, but I want to thank him and everyone else here for all the encouragement! It takes courage to go 'au natural' but I am considering cutting down to just some subtle lip gloss.

When I went to my eye doc yesterday, I really thought I was going blind! And the gritty sand feeling, film over the eyes, burning, etc. was waking me up at night in uproarious pain.

Any beauty tips anyone wants to share? Maybe by telling what kind of clothing styles you like to wear and what colors you like to wear and a little about your coloring... Anything to make us feel pretty that won't hurt our eyes would be a big boost to me and maybe it would make someone else feel better too, I hope.

Thanks again, Homes. Hearing that attitude about makeup from a guy makes me feel better.

I'm going to start this, if anyone wants to join in...
I have strawberry to auburnish hair, worn long and off my face, no bangs; blue eyes that sometime look greenish or greyish with a little golden flecks; very light, pale, white skin (like Uma Thurman light skin-wish I looked that pretty!) with a pale sprinkling of freckles primarily over the nose. I wear transition lense (darkening) lineless bifocals in a pretty cashmere brown titanium frame (flexible, unbreakable and very comfortable and make the idea of no eye makeup not so scary. I tend to have swelling and dark circles under my eyes sometimes but it is better without makeup.

Enough about me, I would love to hear everyone elses' opinions of what's pretty (without eye makeup, particularly mascara).

Question for Homes; I don't go in for piercings or tatoos either but do have pierced ears, one earring per ear but sometimes like to leave them off too for the sake of comfort. Do you think a women can still be pretty without them, too?

CY

Clothing colors, I could use some help with!

I just wanted to mention that I currently use Avon's Washable Waterproof Mascara--the only one my dry eyes will tolerate. It is great--give it a try to see if it might work for you.

[CarolynYvonne]

sweetness

CarolynYvonne,
You made me cry and your post was my blessing for the day. That is something else that I learned later in life. Every day is a gift and somewhere in that day is a lesson or a blessing.

Thanks for posting.
Love,
Billye

Billye,
And you just keep making me feel better... I am hoping that cry may have helped lubricate your eyes a little, too!

Seriously, you are very sweet and kind.
Love,
CarolynYvonne

And thanks to MSPIRK,
Thank you for your suggestion. Does the Avon waterproof not make your eyes feel irritated? I've been struggling for literally decades with every type of mascara I could find, thinking that allergies were the problem. I have been more comfortable without it and am finding some gratification at rethinking my ideas of "beauty"; it has been a good exercise in getting to know myself and in accepting my appearance. I think for now I am going to keep on the self-acceptance route and not take any chances but I will keep this in mind if I decide to try mascara again. Thanks so much for taking the time to post.

Love,
CarolynYvonne

[Isis]

I used to wear glitter around my eyes, eyeshadow, mascara, etc but now that I have MGB I can't wear any at all. My eyes are actually my best feature. They are very big so I can't get around people looking at them. I never wear a stitch of make-up and I have to say I prefer it now. Make-up is so bad for your skin anyway. Even the supposed "natural" stuff. It's a plus that my boyfriend prefers me natural anyway. He thinks make-up is gross.

[stella]

I must say i,ve really enjoyed this thread - great fun - especially homme's "painted lady" and all the witty comments arising from it.
My sympathies go to the younger women on this site -
I dont think i could have coped as well with the appearance problems of DE, and the lack of eye make up when i was in my 20's or 30,s
It says a lot for the maturity of some of them the way they handle it
You have my admiration !!!
I would consider - even now - and i'm not for giving my age away - that my eyes were my best feature
I never used much eye make up - just eye shadow ,which i cant use now
However - i have found for me ,that wearing fashionable glasses that suit my face have been a Godsend.
They make my eyes look bigger and hide the bags under them and i feel fine while i have them on - Its only when i take them off that people notice i have a problem.( That works for and against me ,'cos people dont believe there is anything wrong with my eyes ,but if i take my specs off they realize.)
Also i think wearing sports goggles is very attractive - I like the sporty image for both women and men

[LouisvilleLady]

to makeup or not

I don't know whether it's odd to comment on posts that are years old, but I thought that I'd put in my "two cents" about my own experience. Like many, I was "married" to my makeup - especially for my eyes. Until last March, you wouldn't have caught me anywhere without the full treatment of eye shadow, eyeliner, and mascara. Though not one to overdo it, I still wouldn't skip it as part of my morning routine. Then, when starting to see Dr. Foulks, he said that I couldn't wear any eye makeup until we cleared up the clogged meibomian glands. I could hardly contain the thought! Now, I've finally adjusted and, in fact, enjoy the freedom. What a vain creature I was! On a normal day, when not doing anything special (which is frequently) I happily leave off the liner/mascara/shadow. However, like others, I do the basic foundation, blush, eyebrows, and lipstick. Then, on Sundays, or other special occasions, I go ahead and enjoy the full eye treatment. (Now my eyeshadow is a cream type which I use mainly on the browbone; one makeup artist advised me that if I darkened and shaped my eyebrows more, that would bring out my eyes, in the absence of the other eye makeup.) I'm finally used to myself. In addition I bought really cute, current looking bifocals, with darker frames, which bring out my eyes nicely. Even my young adult daughter said, "Well, Mom, you are (with emphasis) fifty eight! HA.

LouisvilleLady

[Betsy]

Some people have naturally big eyes, or a really pretty color eyes that stand out, or long eyelashes and so forth. Those people can get away without eye makeup and some even look so good that makeup is completely unnecessary. But if one feels their eyes are ordinary, especially when they are smaller behind near sided glasses, or a person is no longer young, it gives that person confidence to put on eye makeup. There is nothing wrong with that and is not at all vain. People get cosmetic surgery to look and feel better, a little makeup is not a big deal and it's sad to me to not be able to wear it. I excel at putting it on and since I do have ordinary eyes, the difference is huge when I wore it and I got frequent compliments. Obviously the pic of Mimi is exagerated lol, and while some may wear a bit much, all that matters is their happy with it, not so much what others think. I myself learned in time when I was overdoing it, but on my own, not when others told me. I miss makeup because although I have been suffering with moderate to severe dry eyes for years, it was just 2 weeks ago that I could no longer wear it when it became severe all the time.

[epicjinx]

Just putting in my comment too. I wore eye liner and mainly red lip stick but now I can't due to mgd... I feel it's a bit much now, I had to go to my brothers ceremony for Uni for him and family and my mum put make up on me, and basically told me I'm lazy for not putting in effort... Aka make up but I noticed whatever she put on my face was making me itchy. I drink caffeine at occasions. I'm hoping to get my mgd more under control so that I may go back to make up and drinking caffeine. Since this I have bad anxiety and already more worse pre existing depression. I cried when I seen myself on Facebook with make up, it made me who I was or at least I thought. I'm okay now without it but I would like to go back to it. Much like others I liked my eyes too and now I live with complete guilt that it is my fault when I had no clue. I think things are getting better and I hope they continue.