September Surrender: Day Five
It’s been a while since I’ve put any nail polish on my fingernails. I saw one of those weirdo Twitter conspiracy accounts that said to stop putting it on, and I got taken in immediately. I can’t even recall what their gripe was, but it was a good enough ‘argument’ for me to try going bare everywhere. That includes my toes too, which until recently were always adorned with a splash of color. But I’m living without these minor moments of body decor, and it just might be the least-decorative thing about me these days.
Though I’ve been barely-there with my makeup choices lately, that wasn’t always the case. I did put a lot of makeup on in my youth which included black winged eyeliner, jewel-tone eye shadow, and heavy mascara. It’s not that it looked bad, it was just too heavy and too formal of a choice for most of my looks. But I kept going, even as far as to start using bronzer so I could really explore the confines of my face and what it looks like with a more contoured styling. Unfortunately for me, this was short-lived when a male co-worker saw my bronzer and wondered when it was I had time to go tanning. That ended my great bronzed experiment, and I decided to parse down my makeup routine and stop overdoing my natural looks.
Now I’m not saying that dark eyeliner or painting one’s nails constitutes “overdoing it.” But I will say it’s standing out to me more and more how odd heavy makeup or colored nails look. It’s “unnatural” in my view and I’d rather not partake. It just doesn’t feel like me anymore. So I’m avoiding it. I don’t need it. I like how complete I feel with no toenail or fingernail polish, and how freeing it is to feel clear-skinned, not weighed down by an overabundance of foundation and concealer. It’s my way to continue the natural streak and keep things close to the vest, without any need for battle lines to be drawn. Looks aren’t everything, but honing the sense of style certainly helps.