I know what you are thinking…
“NICE, Janine and Jenni! You work in a sweaty gym all day…from your home no less! Neither of you wear that much make up regularly. Convenient for you to choose a subject that you are comfortable with, and then design a weekly challenge requesting the rest of us to ‘feel beautiful’ or ‘uncover the real me’!”
It is confession time. This week is NOT an easy week for me, because of these 5 little words…
“Go put on some lipstick!”
Those 5 little words (heard all throughout my adolescence) started a “lip stuff” addiction in my life. For the past 2 decades I went through a Dr. Pepper lip smackers “phase”. It was in every pocket, purse and bag that I owned. The genius thing about Dr. Pepper Lip Smackers is that it was cheap and also had a hint of color so when wearing it I would avoid hearing those 5 little words!
Those 5 words were often followed by, “your lips look transparent,” “you look like a ghost”. No matter what the words were, the message was clear: without some sort of color on my mouth…I was not attractive. Lesson learned. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars later investing in tiny little tubes of great smelling chap stick…I never left home without it.
I shifted in my mid-20s to a more “sophisticated” addiction. I discovered a grand little green tube of gloss from Bath and Body Works. Mentha Lip Tint that has a nice warm plum color, a fabulous sheen and even a little peppermint oil. So now my lips are always “luscious” and I have a hint of fresh breath. I feel VERY beautiful when I wear it. (Or certainly not naked.)
This week is a great challenge for me. It is asking me (a girl who wears little to no make up) to put down the tube and dig a little deeper as to why I think I “NEED” to wear my “lip stuff”. The answer was deeper than I had imagined. I personally did not start wearing make up because it made me feel beautiful. I wore make up to avoid feeling ugly.
After this week you may still occasionally see me with a fabulously luscious set of lips. I do not think make up is innately bad or evil. I do think it is a great idea to question the status quo. It is a great idea to question our motives or the things we have done forever…”just because”. It is always a good idea to figure out why we MUST have or do something.
Apparently Janine and I are not the only ones with this idea. After we had drawn up our challenge for the month, we found this duo. We would highly recommend checking out their journey and find out why they have started the “Naked Face Project”. Their mission statement shares and we concur:
“We’ve only approached feminine beauty in one way for our entire lives. What might reveal itself when we give ourselves the opportunities to experience another way?”
May this week not fill you with dread but with a new opportunity to question the status quo. Or more importantly, may you land on the other side of the next 7 days discovering a deeper, more complete sense of your own beauty.
I will share with you the words I hope my daughter hears over and over until I have no more breath to speak them, “You are beautiful… just the way you are.” (Quietly under my breath, I might add, “with or without the lip stuff”!)
May you be a blessing and may you be blessed!
Jenni
100 Cups of Coffee 