The Power of Makeup: Perception vs Reality

NikkiTutorials created an amazing youtube video called “The Power of Makeup” where she only applied makeup to half her face, showing the power that makeup can have to transform her face.

Her message in the video was that, although we shouldn’t rely on makeup to feel beautiful, there is nothing wrong with wearing alot of makeup, having fun with makeup, and it making you feel more fabulous.

Although I love Nikki’s message and will definitely put up a future post around “makeup shaming” and showing how my glammed up makeup can transform my face (stay tuned!), her video inspired me to take the idea in a different direction…

The Power of Makeup 

When I remove my eye makeup at night, I often make the comment, semi-jokingly, to my fiance “goodbye big eyes!”.

When I think of the words “Power of Makeup” – I think about the power makeup has to make me feel more beautiful.  I believe that most women wear makeup to feel more physically attractive by bringing out our favourite features, minimizing our “imperfections”, and adding a pop of colour to our faces.

That being said, there have been times when I felt beautiful after trying out a new fun vibrant eyeshadow look (like Spring Laguna) but worried that it wasn’t “work appropriate”……but then, to my surprised, no one at work noticed anything different.  Was it not as bright or different as I perceived?

As I am not a formally trained makeup artist, I’ve often question – is my daily makeup routine actually making as big of a physical difference as I think…or is it all in my head?  Because I know that I have applied a contour, do I see a much thinner face?  Do I only notice my eyes popping because I know that I applied jewel toned eye shadow?  When I don’t wear makeup, do my eyes actually look noticeably smaller?

So, I wanted to see side-by-side if my typical every day makeup routine actually made me look noticeably different / “more beautiful” or did I perceive a difference because I knew I had applied makeup?

The Result

Power of Makeup

What is my everyday makeup routine?

During a work day, I normally wear more makeup then the average person…I love wearing shimmery shadows and jet black eyeliner!  I have never tried to wear makeup that “makes me look like I’m not wearing makeup”…but I don’t wear anything overly dramatic either.

To start, I apply face moisturizer and primer to help nourish my skin and minimize pores, as well as eye shadow primer to stop my eye shadow from creasing.  To even out my skin tone and hide my under eye circles, I use a medium coverage foundation and full concealer.  I also always use bronzer and highlight to lightly contour my face to look thinner and a brow pencil or shadow to  darken my eyebrows.

I spend the most time applying my eye makeup, trying to make my eyes look larger and more open.  Usually, I do this with a nude shimmery subtle smokey eye.  I also apply a bright colour in the outer half of my lid or under the eye to make my eyes pop and add fun to the look.  And lastly, I always completed with black liner on my upper lash line and mascara to lengthen, thicken and separate my lashes on the top and bottom.

Here are the products that I used to create today’s look:
Moisturizer:  Ole Henriksen Sheer Transformation
Shadow primer:  Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Face primer:  Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer Light
Foundation:  Neutrogena Skinclearing Oil[Free Makeup
Concealer: Maybelline Instant Age Rewind
Eyebrow shadow:  Quo Brow Focus Brunette
Eyeshadow:  Disney Minnie’s World in Color Eyeshadow Palette
Eyeliner:  NYX Cosmetics Matte Liquid Liner
Mascara:  Estee Lauder Sumptuous Knockout
Contour & Highlight:  Maybelline Master Contour Palette
Blush: Too Faced Blush in How Deep is your Love
Lipstick: Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche in Pepper

Perception vs. Reality

When I first applied my half-face of makeup…looking in the mirror, I thought, “wow what a difference”.  So, I decided to take a photo in natural light to get a clearer view (the most unforgiving light there is).

I’m surprised to say, when looking at the photo I didn’t notice a HUGE difference between the two sides of my face.  To me, it looked like someone slightly photoshopped half of my face.  Beyond the pop of colour and shimmer on my eyes, the only major differences that I noticed were that my uneven completion/darker spots from past acne was less noticeable, my eyes looked more deepset (ie. less lid), and, most surprising, my eye colour looked a bit deeper.

Note:  I will say that this photo doesn’t fully capture my eye makeup.  It’s a mid of rose gold with dark plum and navy.  I will be posting a closeup and tutorial soon.

What did I learn?

In the mirror, I saw two different faces but in the photo, it wasn’t that drastic.  I realized that the “Power of Makeup”, in this case, wasn’t that I necessarily looked different/better on the outside, the Power of Makeup was how it made me feel on the inside..and therefore, perceived something better on the outside.  Crazy, eh?

Will I be changing my makeup routine after this discovery?  Probably not.  Makeup is one of my arts (fyi – the other is singing) and  I have fun doing it so there’s no reason to stop or change.

I will say that this exercise definitely helped make me feel more confident in my appearance seeing that the look I create to “look my best” is not too far off from my natural bare face.

I’d love to see your Power of Makeup “everyday edition” and hear what you learned about your daily makeup routine.  Make sure to tag me on twitter and/or post a link below in my comments section 🙂

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(For full disclosure, please note that a couple of the links are shopstyle affiliate links.  The products were not selected on that basis.  There are many retailers I could have linked for info on the same products, so I figured why not link ones that reward me for selecting them so I can buy more products to review for you!.)  

6 thoughts on “The Power of Makeup: Perception vs Reality

  1. Sakura Vietnam August 10, 2016 / 8:17 pm

    Makeup is a fun thing to do so there is no reason for us to stop. Everyday I just be like ‘wake up and makeup’ :D.

    • Aliza18e August 11, 2016 / 2:02 pm

      Hahaha! I love that 😀

  2. Iqra (@BlushingGiraffe) August 12, 2016 / 5:11 pm

    This was such a great read hun! I agree with you, in your lovely selfie theres not a huge different – the main thing is I feel like the makeup side shows your personality a little ^_^
    I’m the same as you, I wear more than the average and I love it haha – I’m starting teacher training in a new environment soon and I’m curious as to what people will think, but I enjoy it, putting makeup on most days just makes my morning brighter!

    Iqra | The Blushing Giraffe x

    • Aliza18e August 12, 2016 / 11:08 pm

      Awww…thanks! I love the comment that the makeup side brings out my personality. I’ve always felt a little more extroverted then the average person…so I feel like the pop of sparkle suits me 🙂

  3. sxrabeauty August 13, 2016 / 3:27 am

    This was such a fun read! TBH I think you look absolutely gorgeous on the no makeup side but I liked how the colours on the “makeup” side were kind of quirky and different x

    • Aliza18e August 13, 2016 / 8:44 am

      Thank you so much! I look forward to trying out the original Power of Makeup test with 1/2 my face fully glammed up 🙂

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