The 5 Stages of My Makeup Evolution: Stage 2

Stage 2: The power of makeup a.k.a. "Makeup can do that?!"

Throughout college and even after graduating I seldom wore makeup.  A big reason for that was because I didn't know how to apply makeup properly.  The other reason was because I was too lazy to take time in making my face presentable.  I had already accepted the fact that pretty was for other girls - those who had the time and knowledge to perfect their natural-born beauty, and that I was not one of those girls.  It wasn't as if I loathed the way I looked; I merely accepted what I looked like and moved on.

That was until one night in 2009 when I stumbled on to this YouTube video by the infamous Michele Phan.

It escapes me now how I stumbled on to this video, but I distinctly remember my utter amazement at her transformation.  I realize now that this video is chock-full of advertisements for Lancome and that there are countless better natural transformation tutorials out there; however this was my first ever video that made makeup look not only beautiful but feasible for someone like me.  Somehow she effortlessly transformed herself into what I have always wanted makeup to do for me but never had the vision or insight to do for myself.  The result was simply natural and beautiful.  I watched and rewatched and showed the video to my sisters and my mom... just in awe of the power of makeup.

YouTube has this nifty feature where it recommends more videos for you based on the one you just watched.  This is nothing new now in 2013, and it wasn't new in 2009, but it was this feature that opened the gates to my newfound addiction: makeup.

In the first few days after discovering the first Michelle Phan video I had combed through and watched all of her tutorials; I probably added a few hundred views to her growing total count!  In addition to her, I also found countless other channels of people talking passionately about makeup and performing jaw-dropping before and after transformation.  Here was an entire community with the same shared obsession over this makeup thing that has just taken me over.  They talked of favorite beauty products, ways to apply, low-cost dupes for expensive items, product reviews, brand reviews, and the list goes on.  It was like someone had taken me to a new world and I was going through the tour of what this new world had to offer.  Just simply by stepping into this YouTube world, I had already changed my thoughts about makeup and its functions.  I knew then, just as I know now, that makeup would never look the same to me again.