My Make-Up Nightmare

In middle school when I first started getting into make-up, my mom gave me a few basic make-up tips. Although she isn't big into make-up, nor did she ever really wear it or even particularly liked me getting into make-up, she did let me start wearing it. She told me that it was best that I stay as natural as possible with all of my products and not go to dramatic, wash it off at the end of the day to avoid break-outs, and most importantly make sure my foundations and blushes aren't to heavy for my fair skin tone. I didn't listen to most of this. I did wash off my make-up, but I always (and still do) go for really colorful and dramatic eyeshadows and looks, but I enjoy doing this and it's in my tastes. This has never seemed to be a big deal to me, as I like to be creative with my make-up. But I really wish I has listened to her on matching my foundation to my skin, OMG, I wish I had listened!

Of course in middle school when I was just beginning in make-up, I was no where near perfect (still no where near it) or even good at putting on make-up. I didn't even know what eyeshadow primer was, so the color I put on my eyelids would either fade or crease later on. Note that I didn't even know how to create a look really, but just slap on a color or two with the sponge applicator that comes with it. I wouldn't wear eyeliner for the longest time for the fear of poking myself in the eye, and when I first started wearing it, I never knew how to apply it. This probably all had to do with the fact that I just had no experience what-so-ever with make-up, and didn't have much guidance. I was new to make-up, and this is probably typical of a young teen getting into make-up. None of these tiny little beauty fails can even come close to one of the biggest make-up fail that anyone could ever have made. A "what the HELL was I thinking, just OMG, NO" kind of fail. A one-time fail that haunted me for the rest of the school year.

I have fair, light skin, and I always hated it. Trying to get a tan in the sun seemed to do nothing for me, especially with my twelve/ thirteen year old self wanting quick, dramatic results. I would more likely get a sunburn then a suntan. Just another thing that wore on my already low self-esteem in middle school. My skin tone was one of the many things I wanted to change about myself. I thought that darker skin among other things would have made people accept me, and make me not an outcast. This lead me to making a make-up fail that would lead to even more bullying, and names, that would last through the end of my 6th grade year. However, it's best to look back on this with humor, rather then with remorse of my middle school years. 

One day my mom gave me a foundation pallet with 3 different tones; a light one better for my skin tone, a mid tone that may have made a good bronzer, and a dark, dark color for people with much darker skin. My mom told me that the dark wouldn't work for me, but I decided one night to go into the bathroom and play around with the pallet and a few other products. One of the first things I did was swatch the dark color on my skin to see how it looked, it had pretty good coverage, and at the time I thought the color looked just amazing, so I applied it all over my face. "OMG, I found something that can make me look tan," I thought. Looking in the mirror, I thought it looked great. I finally had darker skin. Thinking it looked great, and absolutely amazing, I decided to wear this look to school the next day. I thought everyone would think it was pretty, or even not recognize me and think I was some pretty new student. LOL, WHAT?! I was not a very smart child, haha. But when I got to school, I realized that this was the biggest beauty fail I have ever made in my life.

Not only did I put on a foundation that was way to dark for my skin, but I didn't even bother to blend it down my neck, or place it anywhere else, so it looked like a mask. The other kids were quick to point it out and laugh at it. I also then found out that the color looked orange on my skin rather than tan. The name "Oompa Loompa" quickly piled on to my long list of nicknames, and had Jersey Shore had been out at the time, I probably would have been called Snooki. I ran home that day and washed all the make-up off my face, and never made that mistake again. But the taunts and names lasted until the end of my 6th grade year, and into 7th grade. More then likely, even if I wasn't already a bullying target in my school, I would have still have gotten some mean comments, just probably not as many. It may even be easier for me to laugh at this rather than remembering it as a make-up nightmare.  

Bad middle school memories aside, I did learn an important beauty lesson. Pick the right colors for your skin tone, and match your foundation to your skin tone, not the one you want. It'll look much nicer if it matches up to your skin tone. Slightly darker colors are for bronzer and low-lighting, not for all over foundation. And, it's super important to blend your foundation down your neck, and not end it at the bottom of your chin. We all have to learn somehow, don't we? 

Almost all of us make beauty bloopers at some point in our life, especially when we're young. We just need to learn to look back on them and laugh, and learn from our mistakes. Usually they won't end up in bullying, this was just because of my already bad situation. They may get a few comments if they are major but not always. Sometimes people may not even notice, or remember what happened back in middle school, as they probably did the same things. Even my big fail seemed to have been forgotten by the time we all moved to the high school in 8th grade as I started getting better and better with make-up. 

What are some of your beauty fails?