“When an asshole whose opinion you didn't seek makes a comment about your makeup, pull out your compact mirror and politely ask him or her to turn themselves inside out for you.”
It’s solid advice, and the strong opening lines of a poem by Sha'Condria “iCon” Sibley. In the work, titled “In My Skin" (which you can watch her perform above), the poet checks the notion that wearing makeup is somehow a weakness.
“This is not shame. This is cringing each time I hear someone say the word ‘makeup’ as if it is the curse, when the only curse has been my bad skin and makeup has been a blessing.” Preach.
Sibley continues, “Not all of us have the privilege of using #NoFilter or #IWokeUpLikeThis. Some of us wake up dreading the breakout brewing beneath our epidermis...this is not self-hate; this is loving the skin I'm in.”
Though the poem was first performed at the 2016 Women of the World Poetry Slam in March, its message serves as a comforting reminder: Beauty isn’t about conforming to trends or feeling the pressure to look perfect without a trace of makeup. Beauty is about doing whatever feels best for you, whether that’s going all-natural or experimenting with 100 layers of fill-in-the-blank. You do you.
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