Naturale vs. Made-Up: She Said, He Said

A constant debate among the stylists and make-up professionals - plain (naturale) make-up vs. dramatic. Natural lips vs. dramatic red lips? Eye shadows vs. natural (light beige or sans any) eye lids? Blush vs. natural blush - [that is if you get any natural blush - I know people who do not get any natural blush even during the cold times...]

Personally, I feel very 'made-up' if I have heavy make up on, and I feel like Geisha when I have red lip color on. A while ago I got myself "Russian Red" matte lipstick from MAC Cosmetics, that's been laying around in my make-up kit for a year now. So many times I tried to find a use for it. I thought, ok, I'll play it according to the common 'fashion rules' of applying make up: if you put on a dramatic lipstick color, play it down the rest of the make up - go all naturale... But if I do so - go all natural in the rest of the face, my eyebrows and eyelashes would just blend in, because they are not as dark (black) as I wanted them to be - so going sans mascara is not negotiable. As for the shadows and blush - I can live without them. As a matter of fact - I do not use any make-up foundations and blush at all.

So, I finally decided to venture out and try the kind of make up that I call 'Geisha' - [despite all the make-up professionals who would disagree with my terminology]. I put on the red lipstick. Looked in the mirror, and realized - I just can't, can't, can't do it...It looks perfectly 'innocent' on other women, but it just does not look good on me. My lips seem to take over the whole face if I put them in the VERY red color. Although, this is not what my girlfriend thought about my "red lips" look who observed the whole process. 

As a matter of fact - [and this is not the first time I hear it from my friends] - my girlfriend said to me that I should not be afraid to use more make-up, that I should use red lipstick and be proud of showcasing my pout and, then, she stated something very true to the fact. 

She said that I'm always, in general, too conservative in the way I dress and do my make up. That I should not be afraid to experiment and flaunt my body and face... Well, that was not a revelation to me at all. I guess she is right - just as my other friends are right. I should be more 'experimental', and I thought I was, but, apparently, I am not flaunting my body and face enough...

Men seem to also have an opinion that a woman could be both classy and sexy at the same time and that 'short' is preferable, as long as it a classy 'short'. Moreover, the majority of men seem to prefer naturale make-up to very made-up one. It especially goes with the men who really enjoy the 'home-y', casual look  on women - or as they call it in America, a 'girl-next-door' look...

It's a rather interesting situation - hearing what your parents say vs. your girl- and guy-friends. 

Just a few months ago, after I sent a few of what I thought 'innocent', conservative photos of me taken at a friend's birthday party, where I wore a purple just a bit above the knee dress, my mother called me and said: "Listen, the photos are beautiful, you look beautiful, but don't you think that at your age you should not wear that short of the skirts and dresses? I think you are sending a wrong message to the men around you. You should dress more proper..." Here's a dilemma for you! Here's a revelation to you! What your friends think as 'conservative', your mother calls 'improper'...Go, figure!

So, that was a response for the dress most of my friends would consider a 'nun's dress' - and this is how conservative it was for me. Now, where do we draw a line between 'too much' and 'too little'? Is there a way to look stylishly conservative, but sexy and feminine at the same time? There's never one answer...

What do you think?