May 07, 2010

I yam what I yam

In her post, Beautiful People, Kristin Briana Otts challenged bloggers to share pictures of themselves without makeup in order to expose what true beauty looks like.

Well...

That would be hard for me considering I don't really wear makeup (and when I say that, I mean... 25 days out of 30, I don't even put on chapstick).

According to Hollywood, I am no great beauty. I have dark circles under my eyes. They are hereditary. My brother and my father have them, too. I have pale skin. I'm talkin' darn near translucent. I have lots (lots) of scars from pretending to be a lion tamer to my cats all these years. I'm short. I wear glasses. The hair around my face gets caught in my glasses a lot and breaks, causing me to have tons of fly aways.

Guess what? I don't mind.

In some ways, my lack of vanity is a product of sheer laziness. I'm so incredibly low maintenance (of course, I make up for that tenfold by being incredibly emotionally high maintenance, but Bear loves me anyway), it's kind of ridiculous.

That's not to say I don't take care of myself. I wear sun block. Brush my teeth. Moisturize. Brush my hair (most days).

But yeah... I'm lazy.

It's not just that, though, because if I had poor confidence, it would be enough motivation to not be lazy. I was blessed to be raised with a mother who is comfortable in her own skin and never put an emphasis on the outside, except to say that us kids should be healthy. I was raised to believe in myself. That's not to say people who have low self-esteem were not raised to believe in themselves, but for whatever reason, the sense of self-worth my mother introduced to me early on stuck.

I've never been one who can't answer the door without makeup on. I didn't even know people did that until 11th grade.

All this might lead you to believe that I never get upset about my appearance. Trust me, I do. Sometimes when I want to do my hair nice, I get so frustrated I want to scream - because no matter how many YouTube tutorials I watch, I can't figure out how to create perfect spiral curls or get my hair to stay in a French twist.

Though I'm thin, and the myth goes that thin people looooove to shop, I hate it, because everything in the Juniors section is cut and designed for teens, and everything in the Misses section is cut and designed for bodies far older than 25. I hate shopping because it makes me feel like a freak. I wander the mall, eyes glazed, trying to find a 'normal' shirt or a 'normal' pair of pants. Something that's neither too trendy nor too unstylish. A plain white polo shirt that's not paper thin. A pair of bootcut, mid-to-low-rise (but not super-low-rise) jeans that is neither acid-washed nor elastic-waisted.

Back to Kristin's challenge. Since I really don't wear makeup, 99% of pictures of me are without a shred of it. So I thought I'd go one step further...

Here's me an hour after I woke up. All I've done is splash water on my face.

"Wha-? Paparazzi?! I can't believe they found me! And so early, too!"


And remember folks... as Popeye says...


Check out the other awesome bloggers who have participated in Kristin's challenge (and if you'd like to join us, leave a link in the comments):

Chanelle Gray
Emilia Plater
Kate Hart
Phoebe North
Rachel Bateman
Rachel (SeeYouUpside)
Raven Ashley


PS - As of 2:00pm today, Bear and I have been married 4 years. (!!!)


13 comments:

Rachel Bateman said...

Happy anniversary!!

I just have to say: pale or not, you have beautiful skin. I have had trouble skin since my late teen years, and I would LOVE to have skin so nice as yours. :)

And, of course, you already know I love your hair!

Phoebe North said...

Oh wow, you have such beautiful, shining hair.

Happy anniversary! I participated in Kristin's exercise, too. I think this it's great to get ourselves--our real selves--out there. Honesty in online photos is pretty rare, unfortunately.

Ella Preuss said...

Happy anniversary!!!
You are really pretty :D Love your hair! Mine's not... I'm not liking it right now. lol
Following you now!
I might post a Beautiful People post later too. I agree with Phoebe, honesty in online photos is pretty rare.

Abby Stevens said...

To everyone - I definitely didn't post this to illict compliments, but they are very appreciated. :)

To Ella - Welcome and thanks for stopping by! If you do post your own Beautiful People, please comment with the link!

Abby Stevens said...

Oops, and I did mean "elicit" not "illicit." At least I caught my mistake, right? :)

Lydia Kang said...

Happy Anniversary, and thanks for posting this! I went to her blog and the post was really great. And you're gorgeous by the way!

Rachel Bateman said...

There. It took me a while (tough to get a makeup-less picture when I am work with makeup on), but I posted too:

http://rachelbateman.com/2010/05/you-are-beautiful/

Unknown said...

Everyone posting to this meme is so inspiring! Jessica Simpson is on the cover of Marie Claire without makeup and Britney Spears is released untouched-up photos -- I cross my fingers that we're moving in this healthier, happier and more accepting direction!

And happy anniversary!!

Glenna said...

ONE! You look completely confident. And it makes you a hottie.

TWO! You look drop dead happy GORGEOUS in that wedding picture. And the hubby looks like a catch. ;D

THREE! Happy Anniversary!

Glenna said...

ONE! You look completely confident. And it makes you a hottie.

TWO! You look drop dead happy GORGEOUS in that wedding picture. And the hubby looks like a catch. ;D

THREE! Happy Anniversary!

Kate Hart said...

Happy anniversary, lovely!

Molly said...

Happy anniversary!!! You don't look like you even NEED makeup- I've decided to do my own post in a few minutes too. :)

Abby Stevens said...

Lydia, Sarah, Kate, Glenna, and Molly - thank you!

Molly - comment with the link and I'll add it to the list above. :)

Sarah - I saw those articles about Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears, too. It's kind of amazing... they look no better than we do in real life, yet with all that Photoshopping, perfect lighting, positioning, makeup, etc., they look like a Greek goddess or something. It's nice to see the truth.


Glenna - Thank you! My husband is an awesome person and my best friend. :)

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