Natural Beauty Challenge

The other day I read a post with the title something along the lines of "Celebrities Without Makeup" and "Unrecognizable". I was interested to see just how "unrecognizable" these icons are in their natural skin and was a little surprised to find that they look just like everyone else. When I later searched Google for the article again, I was blown away by how many different posts there were on this one topic. The posts range from attempts at humiliation to praise for showing the world their natural beauty. This really got me thinking; What kind of beauty do I try to show "the world"?

For sake of clarification and minimalism, I'm going to say that there are two types of beauty in this world (although I believe there are hundreds). There is natural beauty and alteration beauty.

Natural beauty is raw. It is the body without makeup, piercings, tattoos, expensive clothes, or perfectly styled hair. It's the way you look when you wake up in the morning. Your skin is fresh and clean and free. It can breathe in the air around it. You can rub the sleep from your eyes without a second thought - no makeup to smudge. Natural beauty is you. The way God created you.

Alteration beauty is an attempt to change your natural beauty. It ranges from drastic changes to enhancing. Drastic changes are things like plastic surgery, liposuction, anything that changes your physical appearance in such a way that it becomes unrecognizable. An example of enhancing would be contouring or using makeup to promote your natural beauty.

Let me be up front about this: I do not believe that one type of beauty is better than the other, and I do not judge a person by their personal choices in appearance.

So, back to my question: What type of beauty do I try to show "the world"?

Earlier today I received an unexpected package. It was flowers from my husband as an early Valentine's Day gift. I was so excited about them that I wanted to send him a picture of me with them as a thank you. As I grabbed my phone, I stopped. I hadn't done my hair or makeup yet. Regardless of the fact that my husband has seen me in all sorts of states (makeup, no makeup, smudged makeup, three day old hair, etc.), I couldn't help but think that the picture wouldn't look as good if I didn't fix myself up first. Long story short, I snapped the picture right then, wasn't completely thrilled about it, and sent it on it's way.

I realized that just like a lot of women in today's world I try to alter my beauty, and sometimes I wish I could make drastic changes rather than attempting to enhance what I already have (skinnier ankles, shorter toes, you know, weird stuff like that). This realization gave me an idea: A Natural Beauty Challenge.

There are 2 parts to the challenge:

1. Pick one thing you do to try to alter your beauty (i.e., makeup, clothing, accessories) and either completely eliminate or simply reduce your use of that "thing" for 2 weeks

2. Promote your natural beauty by picking one thing you like about yourself everyday and either tell it to yourself or post about it publicly

My Challenge:

1. I'm going to reduce the amount of makeup I wear. I'm only going to put on eyeliner and mascara. By the end of the day I feel like my skin is gasping for breath, so I feel like letting my natural skin be free from makeup for 2 weeks will do it some good.

2. I have over 100,000,000 freckles on my entire body, and I love them - especially the ones on my face.

I'm really excited about this challenge, and I hope some of you decide to try it out! Let's share our natural beauty and take one step closer to feeling good in our own skin.