Beauty -Lauren Moriarty

As a child I would sit cross legged
On my parents bed.
I would watch, fascinated,
As mum got ready for a night out
With dad.
She hummed softly to herself
As he showered.
I listened to the soundtrack
Of comfort and familiarity.
Mums make-up bag lay strewn
Across rumpled covers,
I would take out each product
And hold it in my small hand
Rub the soft brushes against my skin,
Trace the lipstick around my mouth,
Thinking to myself
This is what makes beauty

I placed make-up on
A pedestal.
In my opinion,
It was the only thing that could
Create beauty.
Growing older,
This belief only intensified.

As a teenager I would sit cross legged
In front of the mirror
Practicing the skill of creating
Beauty.
The music this time
Was composed of insecurities,
Another soundtrack that had become
Familiar.
I learned how to contour,
How to make my lips fuller,
My eyes pop.
But Yes, I liked wearing it,
It gave me more confidence
Turned down the music,
But I wasn’t beautiful.
something was wrong
I didn’t look, I didn’t feel
Beautiful.

Over time,
I learned that beauty
Doesn’t come wrapped in
Mac or L’Oreal.
It is an ideal
Of an individual mind.
It is an aspiration not
An achievement.

As an adult I sit cross legged
As I read and write poetry
I have learned that there is
Many types of beauty.
It can be found in words,
Rhythms and patterns.
Beauty is an art not a person,
Beauty is this poem,
Not me.

***
Hi Friends! So this was written by the lovely Lauren Moriarty and I begged her to let me post it here! Sadly, she has no blog of her own. . . yet. . .I’m still working on it 😉 
So I hope you all enjoy her art as much as I do!

Let’s talk about. . . make up!

Recently, I was nominated for the Irish Blog Awards, 2014 (*insert cheering noises here*). Being the person that I am, I looked at each of my competition (ok…that sounds very serious! Oops) and realised that a good majority of them were fashion and beauty blogs. Don’t get me wrong, I know these bloggers work just as hard as I do on my blog! They were all just very similar. As a rule of the internet, is there’s a lot of popularity for blogs and youtube channels dedicated to fashion and makeup. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought, ‘was I wrong for not having the interest in something which a lot of my category had?’ I’d never pretend to know more about any part of beauty just to gain a few extra followers, but if there’s such an interest in it, shouldn’t I be interested in it too? And the more I thought about this, the stupider I was, because blogging should always be about a person passions. And beauty isn’t mine. 

It’s not like I’m opposed to fashion and beauty. I just don’t know much about it. Lord knows that I wear make up, and try to look as good as I can in clothes. I just know I’m not the right person to suggest beauty tips to. Some girls are exposed to the fashion industry at a young age. I was not one of these. I was always a “girly girl” when I was younger, but my mother or my older sister were not. Therefore, I had to discover the world of beauty on my own. I always loved nail polish though. I had a ginormous collection for as long as my parents can remember! My mum was the typical tomboy growing up. She was the only female on the football team for five years, and she cut her hair as short as she could as soon as she was allowed to. My sister just never had an interest. But there was a big difference in the two of them. My sister looked down on her own peers who wore make up. To her it symbolised the opposite of intelligence and degraded anyone who wore it in their daily life. However, as soon as my mum saw I had an interest, she tried to help me as best as she could. She helped buy me make up from recommendations she went to the trouble to ask for. After that, I was on my own.

I started to wear make up when I was about 14. I still remember buying my first mascara. It was for sports day in my school, as we got to dress up every year and that year we chose to be “rockers”. I was so proud of my little tubey thing of mascara. From there, my collection grew. My cousins gave me some products, and I started to get the courage to buy my own. I always felt so nervous going into a make up shop. I felt like I was getting judged all the time. I felt like I wasn’t educated enough to actually be allowed to buy my own products! Now, I’d just saunter in with not a care in the world! It took me a lot of years to not be embarrassed about wearing make up. It also took me a lot of YouTube videos!

The first time I bought liquid eyeliner, my sister told me I bought the wrong one. I refused to believe her and bought it anyway. The first time I tried to put it on, I cried because I couldn’t do it properly. I felt like an impostor of a girl because I couldn’t do a simple straight line on my eyelid. So I just cried. Eventually, after many nights of intense practice, my lines got less wobbly. And I know now that eyeliner isn’t exactly the easiest thing to apply! I just wish someone had told me that the first time I tried it on. It would have made me feel less like a failure, and more confident to do it again. 

I’ve only started to wear full foundation this year. Previously, I had just worn concealer or BB cream, but this year I took the leap and bought myself foundation! Even at 17, I felt embarrassed to buy it! But I now know that no one really cares what you buy, never mind judging you for it! My skin (thankfully) is not covered in spots daily, and is neither too oily or dry. So I’m pretty lucky and grateful for that! 

As for lips, I’m still venturing into that department! I usually wear something which is the exact same colour as my lips, so I’m not too adventurous there yet! Maybe one day I’ll have the courage! 

One thing I did learn from looking at all the other talented beauty blogs is that everyones style is unique. Which is an amazing message that each blog is giving out to young naive girls, just like me. 

Birthday Haul!

I proclaim that I officially have the best friends in the world, and if you disagree- we’re both pretty lucky! Although my birthday was last monday, I had a few friends camping over at my house last night. . . *cough 12 friends cough*. Every year I insist on them all making homemade cards- as I do it for each of them! But that’s a whole other topic. And as much as I loved all of their unnecessary presents they bought me, they made me a video! I’m the film maker and editor of the group, but this time they decided to go behind my back and get as many of my friends as possible and record them saying nice things. This included them, (of course), my friends on the bus, my friends who live four hours away, and loads of girls in my year group who they wouldn’t know as well! I almost bawled my eyes out crying at this video- and so did my mother! It was amazing, they were amazing, and they still are amazing. But enough bragging about my video, I’m here to brag about what I got for my birthday! Before you get judgemental, I’m not going to show you diamond rings and expensive gifts they got me. . . rather, I will show you food, toys, things that sparkle and pugs.

Pictured above is my lovely doggy, whose face is the new header of my second blog. . .

First up, we have the lovely toys that I got! Plus my friend made me little kawaii figurines! Two of my friends got me the same giraffe toy, so one is called ‘Ger’ and the other one is called ‘Affe’. It took my friend five minutes to catch onto the joke. . .

What else could you want for your birthday than a my little pony jumper!?! Along with this, I got a Pretty Little Liars one size fits all crop top, finding nemo socks, pug socks, and slippers! I’m spoilt I tell you!

FOOD is next! In total for my birthday I received 42 creme eggs… That has to say something about me…. Oh, you can ignore the One direction sweeties… they practically give them away here!

Glitter is a necessity in life, along with bubbles. I got many of both! I always have ’emergency glitter’ in my pencil case…. 

I suppose this is the movies/musicals section of my presents. FROZEN DVD YES. Hunger games necklace, itunes voucher, SIGNED WICKED poster. This was a fun bunch.

This is the ‘pretty’ presents, which makes me smell better! (Yes friends, I took a hint ;D) I got like 5 loofahs!

These were presents which didn’t fit into a catagory… Friend picture frame, nail polish, earrings, wallet, wind chime, word changing mug, a written hug, and a clothes voucher!

Where would I be without a pug pillow and unicorn bag? My mum actually wouldn’t let me buy that pillow when I saw it last week! I showed her!

This is a tradition between myself, and one of my dear friends who shares the same taste in everything as me! I got her a nemo balloon on her birthday last year, she got my my little pony last year, this is our third year!

So I hope you’ve enjoyed this, because I know I have! Please like it, if you like it, if you like 😉

My new bag!

Nothing too interesting about this post really….I just fell in love with this today and as you can see by my giraffe and unicorn key-rings, I did not hesitate to buy it!