My Makeup Story

Hi there!

I'm Amanda. I'm southern, though, so you can call me Manda. ;) I'm not sure where to start, so let's go with the beginning...

I'm from a small town on the coast of Georgia. I was raised by a single mom (with a huge help & influence from my sweet grandparents) and I have two younger brothers. As a toddler, my mom put me in pageants. Don't worry, it wasn't anything like Toddlers and Tiaras! I did get to wear pretty dresses and  a bit of make-up, though, and I guess that's where the love began! By kindergarten, I had moved onto dance classes...tap to be precise. This activity involved more fancy costumes and makeup! (Are you noticing a theme?) After that first recital, I was hooked! For the next few years, I took tap, jazz, ballet, and even a couple of gymnastics classes! I loved to dance, but the recitals were my favorite because that was the dressing up part!

By thirteen, I was feeling a little old for dancing, so I retired my ballet shoes. But not my love of makeup! I was finally old enough to roam the mall without parental supervision...sweet freedom! I still remember perusing the packed shelves of Claire's and finally deciding what to spend my few precious dollars on. My very first cosmetic purchase was a shiny, cobalt blue nail polish. I was so pleased with myself. I smiled all the way home! When I got there, not so much. My mom was not thrilled with my choice. In fact, she felt I was too young to wear any nail polish, let alone bright blue! So I did what any teenager with a makeup obsession would do...I painted my nails at my friend's house! Ha! Eventually my mom gave up the fight and I found myself buying more and more crazy polishes. They were my gateway cosmetic. ;)

I don't remember when I started wearing actual makeup, but I know there were a lot of shiny, glittery, shimmery pink, purple, and even white eye shadows! And there was my favorite lipstick, a root beer scented number from a brand I've long since forgotten. I must've looked like a clown as a young teenager! But by sixteen, I was pretty satisfied with my makeup routine. Foundation, blush, eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara, my rootbeer lippy, and even lip liner!

I wasn't an expert by any means. Growing up with a busy, working mom (who wore very little makeup) and two brothers, I didn't really have anyone to teach me the proper way to apply anything! So, I watched my friends, I used a little common sense, I read Seventeen Magazine... I was teaching myself and I think I looked decent for someone who was basically guessing her way through the world of makeup!

Eventually, I got married. I moved across the country to be with my husband who was in the Navy at the time. A year later, we moved to another state and had our first baby. After he was born, I went through a bit of postpartum depression and lost my interest in makeup or really anything to do with myself. My focus was my sweet, new baby boy. We moved back home to Georgia when he was five months old and I was in total mommy mode. I will admit, I had basically let myself go. A couple of years later, as I was slowly getting out of my funk, we found out we were expecting again! As my pregnancy progressed, I started feeling like my old self again. I felt more feminine. Less frumpy. My interest in makeup was returning, starting again with nail polish. :)

After our second son was born, I was lucky and didn't fall into another bout of ppd. I had my two boys, my hard-working husband...I had a job working with my family... I had plenty of things to keep me busy! Fast forward three years later and I'm back at home with my boys. I decided to quit my job after my oldest finished kindergarten last month so I could spend the summer with my babies. Their afternoon naps left me with a lot of free time on my hands!

Enter YouTube. One day, I was searching Urban Dictionary for a British slang word translation. Below the definition was a video of these gorgeous English twins teaching an American guy British slang. You may know them as Jack & Finn of JacksGap. I was so enamored with them! They were cute, funny, seemed really smart and their videos were of a really high quality. So I started from the beginning and kinda binge-watched all of the videos whenever I had an extra minute here or there over the next few days. (Ha! That's a bit embarrassing...) Anywho, from there I was introduced to a whole new world I never knew existed! (What? YouTube isn't just for looking up clips of old tv shows and funny cat videos?!) There were so many amazing people; young adults who were clever, witty, and entertaining! Sam Pepper, Marcus Butler, Alfie Deyes, Caspar Lee...I was obsessed! I think you can see where I'm going with this. Eventually, I found Zoe, Louise, Tanya, Fleur... One by one, all of these beauty gurus were coming into my life. Beautiful, confident women who had flawless faces and great personalities! And my favorite part..they were British! (I suppose now would be a good time to mention that I'm a bit of an Anglophile!) I found myself watching video after video of hauls, reviews, tutorials, etc. I was finally learning how to properly put on makeup! My love had returned!

So here I am. After a few excited tweets and instagram photos, a lovely friend of mine (Hi Stephanie!) suggested I start my own beauty blog. I was very hesitant at first, because I felt that I wasn't in any position to give advice on makeup when I'm really just learning myself! However, I feel like I'm ready to invite people on this journey with me. I'll be posting hauls, honest reviews, and maybe a few of the ups and downs I'm sure to experience now that I'm starting fresh in the world of beauty! I hope you'll join me on this new, exciting (and possibly bumpy!) road. I can't wait!

Say goodbye to the old me! This is the last photo taken before I caught the beauty blogger bug! :)

Thanks for reading!

-Manda