This week we are going to discuss a disputed topic here at good ol’ STA: makeup. Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with makeup. It’s a hassle to put on and take off, and I’m not totally 100% sure on how to do it. Seriously, I still struggle with eyeliner quite a bit. Oh, and eyebrows? Forget about it. I mean, I don’t really have eyebrows to put makeup on anyway, but whatever.

I don’t know how you glamorous gals that wear makeup everyday to school do it. How early do you get up? How do you find the motivation to look so good? It baffles me, it truly does. Teach me your beautiful makeup ways. I’m serious. The one time I got up early to do makeup was when we were taking our senior yearbook pictures in the summer. It was around eight a.m., which isn’t even early, but I was hardcore struggling. I stabbed my eyeball with a mascara brush at least three times, causing my eyes to water (and also causing me to scream), which meant I had to start over again. The clumpy, black mascara sitting under your eyes is not a cute look for school pictures, just saying.

Another reason why I kind of despise makeup is due to the fact that I once unknowingly spent $80 on approximately three things. That is flat out ridiculous. It was a cloudy October afternoon, a few days before Rockhurst High School homecoming. I went to to ULTA, the makeup and beauty store off of Ward Parkway, with my friend senior Leeny O’Boyle. I went straight to the high end stuff, specifically Butter London stuff, because I thought it wouldn’t cost much more than the cheap stuff. I was wrong.

I bought a stick of matte eyeliner, which I don’t even use, a little mini palette of eyeshadow that only had two colors, and then a big palette of eyeshadow that has about eight colors. I said to Leeny, “Ehhh, this’ll probably be about $50, I think.” I went up to the cashier and she was like, “Okay, your total is $83.” (Or something like that). I had a small stroke, and then I begrudgingly swiped my card in the little swipey machine. I was very poor after that, and I can count the number of times I’ve used that makeup on my fingers.

Moral of the story: makeup stores need to display prices better because they are trying to trick you into buying a ton of stuff on accident. Don’t be me. Don’t buy $80 worth of makeup without realizing it.

Another issue that I have with makeup is that it takes approximately three days to get it all off. I don’t know if it’s like that for everyone else, but I have a somewhat unique problem with the removal of makeup. Due to my blonde eyelashes and eyebrows, it is so totally noticeable when I don’t get all of my makeup off. Frankly, I do not care one bit, but it can be kind of annoying when I rub my eye two days after I wear makeup and I still manage to look like a raccoon. I’m assuming this happens to everybody else but you guys mostly have brown eyelashes and eyebrows, so it’s not as noticeable.

Despite my misgivings, I do like shopping for makeup and putting it on, even if it is sometimes a hassle. Sephora is the mecca of makeup, and I could spend hours in there even though I don’t know how anything works. However, my one makeup product that I swear by is High Beam highlighter from Benefit. It makes you look like a dewy supermodel fairy, if you use it right. If you don’t use it right, you’ll look like you just ran a marathon. Benefit is my favorite brand, but, no surprise here, it’s expensive as heck.

So, to sum it all up: makeup sucks but it’s pretty at the same time, and treat yo’self to some High Beam Benefit highlighter. That’s all, folks.