Battle Makeup
Okay, so the title of this post may be a little intense, but how to paint your face when faced with confrontation is somewhat of an art form to me. Recently, I’ve been having a difficult time with a co-worker. Despite all my efforts to be polite and professional, this person just seems to have it out for me. From snarky comments about what I’m wearing, to going behind my back to our boss and accusing me of a lackluster job performance (which is certainly NOT TRUE!), this person has made it her life mission to create a hostile and uncomfortable work environment for me.
As mentioned before, one of her favorite pastimes has become critiquing my physical appearance on a daily basis. From my leopard print pumps to my smudged, kohl eyeliner, there is a negative comment for everything. But instead of letting her hurtful words harbor inside me, I decided to turn it in to a game. And thus, I created Battle Makeup.
My adversary prefers a more ‘demure’ look. I’m choosing to describe her as demure because I’m not a callous, heartless, wretch of a person, and I can appreciate every individual’s own aesthetic of what they think is fashionable. Anyway, I digress.
As I was saying, she prefers a muted look when it comes to her makeup. I, on the other hand, live by the motto “go big, or go home.” From fluorescent LimeCrime lipsticks, to winged liner, I’ve tried, and loved, it all. And every morning when I was getting ready for work, I would have this person in the back of my head telling me how awful I looked wearing a smoky eye and red lipstick. But instead of letting that voice get to me and forcing me to cower into a world of no blush or false lashes, I went in the complete opposite direction.
If she made it known that she did not approve of my purple eyeliner on Monday, on Tuesday I came in rocking a blown out smoky eye done in every shade of purple from here to China. If she said my hair style looked like it was straight out of the 80’s, I made sure to tease the heck out of it the very next day. The more I concentrated on creating a look I was proud of and happy with, the less her comments seemed to bother me. And before I knew it, she slowly fizzled out of my life until she was nothing more than a passerby in the hallway.
I know they say to never change yourself for another person, and I agree that some might argue that’s exactly what I did. But I think my whole Battle Makeup game gave me an inner confidence and helped me to, for the first time in my life, stand up to a bully. I didn’t make my problems about this other person. Instead, I truly reflected about what makes me happy and focused all of my energy into doing that every day. In fact, I spent so much time researching and executing couture makeup trends, that by the time I had to face this person at work, I didn’t even have the energy to be upset. From day one of my Battle Makeup adventure, I have always had a smile on my face at work. Because it’s very hard to keep a stoic expression when you look in the mirror and have rainbows shooting off of your eyelids.
Jessica Regan is a writer and improviser living in Boston. She spends her free time eating too much hummus, and browsing the internet for adoptable dogs that her landlord won’t let her have. You can read more of her stuff at jessicalregan.wordpress.com, and follow her on Twitter @Jessica_Regan.
Featured Image via Shutterstock.
