Why I started a makeup school: for everyday makeup wearers
I have wanted to wear makeup as long as I can remember.
As a woman who identifies with the words feminine, girly, and female, makeup has always been attractive to me.
A makeover montage in a teen romantic comedy? I am here for it!
I’ve always been blown away by how makeup can transform a person.
It’s a universal experience to marvel when you see someone made up. And as a teenager, there’s a huge allure that draws you in to not only want to be up close and personal to that transformation, but to want to learn how to make that happen.
Without a doubt, one of the most transformative moments of my teenage years, was when I turned 16 and my parents finally let me wear makeup.
15 year old me before makeup
When my mom let me know that we were going to the Clinique counter to get my makeup done, I couldn’t have been more excited.
I remember feeling like this was the moment the next stage of my life would begin!
Watch to hear the full story
Think what you want, but I had a really clear idea of exactly who I wanted to be when I grew up. And by that I mean I knew how I wanted to LOOK.
Beautiful, sophisticated, in charge, unstoppable. I had no idea what steps to take to look like that or even all that was possible with makeup, but I knew that when I flipped through Allure magazine I was mesmerized by the women I saw on those pages. And I wanted to be like that!
Grown up me looking exactly the way I hoped I would grow up to when I was 16
The big takeaway from that moment at the Clinique counter with my mom has always been that it was the moment my love for makeup and what it could do was cemented. I would be in love with makeup forever. There was no question in my mind. Makeup would be my future!
But recently a bigger truth was revealed. It’s probably always been there but I never allowed myself to acknowledge it. It’s hard to admit to yourself the ways you’ve felt insecure or lacked confidence. Especially when the most current version of yourself is someone who has a lot of confidence and feels really self assured in who they are.
In building The Academy, a makeup school that focuses on the creative and transformative powers of makeup to help teenagers express themselves, I’ve found myself thinking back to my teenage years and being confronted with some challenging questions.
Recently a friend asked me, “Why does The Academy matter to you? Why is it so important?”
And the obvious answer flew right out of my mouth:
The first time I wore makeup I felt like a freaking QUEEN!
It was like all the ideas I had in my head of how I could look were both affirmed and solidified in that moment: IT WAS POSSIBLE!
But then the thing I knew to be true but never said out loud came through like a whisper from the furthest reaches of my heart and mind:
“I didn’t feel beautiful until I first saw myself with makeup on.”
While it’s hard to admit that, it’s the truth.
As a kid I always felt smart, curious, artistic, kind, and even sometimes funny. But I didn’t feel beautiful.
I spent entirely too much time focusing all my attention on “how pretty I’d look if” I lost some weight, cleared up my acne, and grew my hair long. But over the years my love for makeup grew deeper, and the way it could transform how I looked and therefore how I felt, never failed me.
Feeling sad? Put on some makeup.
Bummed by crappy weather? Put on some makeup.
Had a sad breakup? Put on some makeup.
Mom just died? Cry A LOT, wait for your puffy eyes to calm down, and then slap on a crap ton of makeup.
Makeup has been a constant source of joy, expression, creativity, and peace.
Everyone deserves that. . . especially teenagers.
So when that friend asked me "Keela, why is this so important to you?" originally I froze. I froze because the answer is so easy. . . and yet so complicated.
The easy answer is I wish The Academy existed when I turned 16 and my parents gave me the green light to wear makeup.
With The Academy I’ve essentially created the experience I wish I could have had when I was a teenager.
But as I’ve already admitted, it’s so much more than just that.
“Makeup has the power to help teenagers see themselves as beautiful.”
Once I saw myself with makeup on, I started to see myself differently. Of course I thought of makeup as magical and transformational, but would it really be possible to see myself as beautiful if I wasn’t already beautiful without it?
I started to appreciate my features. I started to really look at myself and think, “You’re cute!”
I don’t know how long it would’ve taken me to get there on my own, without makeup to jumpstart that self-love process. What a GIFT my parents gave me! I learned that makeup could change the way I saw myself externally, but also internally.
How could I look the part so I could begin to feel the part?
My face became my canvas. I started to explore expressing different parts of my personality and mood based on what lipstick I wore, how much I smudged my eyeliner, how glowy or matte I made my skin.
The reality is that feeling beautiful matters!
It isn’t vain or selfish to want to feel beautiful. Once makeup was a part of my life I began taking really good care of my skin. Suddenly I was diligent in washing my face every night and getting up close and personal with my face every morning when I put my makeup on.
And something started to shift in how I saw myself. I recognized the way my eyes looked just like my mom’s. For the first time I noticed the little scar under my lip that had been there for years from an accident as a kid. I realized that my acne had in fact cleared. I saw ME.
Beautiful without a speck of makeup on my face.
We frequently share the memes and GIFs about loving yourself and seeing the beauty within yourself but don’t always acknowledge that sometimes you need some help to see yourself the way your loved ones see you. Makeup did that for me. And I know it can do that for others.
“Being a teenager is HARD and I remember it all too well! ”
*Thanks Taylor Swift.*
The stress, the anxiety, the dings to your confidence. . .
And yet it's the time in your life when all you want to do is express yourself and get validation from your peers that you're great. I want The Academy to be a place for teenagers to feel seen, be creative, and bask in a community of compliments over comparison.
And I want them to feel absolutely beautiful!
As a makeup artist I’ve seen it happen again and again. The moment I love so much when someone sees themselves made up is when they say,
““Wow! I didn’t know I could look like that!””
Because I know the unspoken second part of that statement. . .
““But I always hoped I could.””
The Academy opens on Thursday, March 31st. Make sure you’re on our email list to get notified as soon as the doors open.