Check Out My Makeup Story and the Five Photos That Make Me Feel Beautiful

Leave it to yours truly to take two popular trends and combine them into one no-holds-barred blog post. That's right, y'all, I am taking on TWO viral beauty trends and crushing them in just ONE rad post. Well, not literally crushing them. That's impossible, but I've been listening to the 80's Hulkmania Theme all morning and am super-pumped, so LET'S DO THIS.

Trend 1: Everyone and their mom has been participating in the "Beauty Challenge" on Facebook--it's a viral dare that has all the women I know sharing five special photos; each photo you share is supposed to be a photo in which you feel your most beautiful.

Trend 2: "My Makeup Story" is basically a survey you fill out; you share your experience with makeup through the years. Think of those personality surveys people used to fill out on MySpace ten (gasp) years ago--but with makeup.

Y'all ready for this? I'm blending the survey and my pics to create a beauty blog smoothie. Let's get crackin'.

1. How old were you when you started wearing makeup?

I started wearing makeup when I was about 14. After begging, pleading, praying, and much angsty sulking, my mother finally caved and bought me a Clinqué compact. It was just pressed powder--nothing fancy--but I felt as if I had been given the key to womanhood... or whatever. No one ever really showed me how to do my makeup; I just attempted to replicate the looks I saw in Seventeen and Cosmo. I shudder to think of all that unblended eyeshadow... Moment of silence, please.... I really started getting in to makeup two years ago. I spent countless hours on beauty forums and a small fortune on products. I think I've got some serious skills now.

2. How did you get into makeup?

After my daughter was born, I had a few health setbacks. I seriously had three surgeries in less than six months. It was awful. I was super bored trying to convalesce, and I was like, "Why not makeups?" I just started practicing my makeup application skills at home; I subscribed to several makeup/skincare subreddits, and I started learning through trial and error.

3. What are some of your favorite brands?

I love anything and everything from Benefit. You can't go wrong with Benefit; you just can't. Their products are quality and the packaging is always presh. I'm a huge Urban Decay girl, too, and I've been spending more and more of my money on products from Josie Maran and Kat Von D.

4. What does makeup mean to you?

I find makeup incredibly empowering. I never feel as if wearing makeup is the admission price I must pay to be a woman. I like being able to change my look to suit my outfit or mood. I love being able to change how I feel with a dark lip tar or a bit of blush. I think of it as paint on an already awesome canvas.

5. If you could only wear 4 products on your face what would they be?

If I am stuck on a desert isle, I best have Benefit's POREfessional, Too Faced's "Better than Sex" Mascara, Bene-Tint, and Josie Maran Argan Illuminizer or there will be hell to pay.

6. What is your favorite thing about makeup?

It sounds cheesy to say, but it's FUN. Buying makeup is fun. Playing around with makeup is fun; writing about makeup is fun.

7. What do you think about drugstore makeup vs. high end makeup?

There is no drugstore shame in my game, okay? Some of my fave products are purchased at Rite-Aid on the reg: L'Oreal's Lumi Foundation and Visible Lift Blush, CoverGirl's AgeDefy Concealer, etc. Y'all know how I feel about NYX. I also am crazy for my high-end products, too--there's a reason those Urban Decay Naked Palettes are so coveted. They work. Do I feel guilty spending over $100 every time I go to Sephora? Not in the slightest. I say, if you can afford it, buy it.

8. What is one tip of advice you can give a beginner?

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. No one in the history of humanity has ever successfully created a perfect cat eye on the first try. You've got to practice; don't be afraid to put on a full face of makeup or try out a smokey eye while you're at home with nowhere to go. The more you practice, the more flawless you'll look.

9. What is one makeup trend you never understood? 

Pencil-thin eyebrows make me shudder. NO. Just NO. Say no to bad eyebrows. The early 2000's were not kind to me, and my brows have yet to recover.