Make up and other products

I've never been big on make up. Even when I was a young girl, it just never fascinated me. It wasn't that I was a tomboy or that it wasn't available-it's just that, the habit that older women had in my country of origin El Salvador, was to layer it on, to the point that at least to me, looked clownish... Now, I'm not trying to reinforce stereotypes about the ways old world Latin women wear make up because it is only through my experience that I speak and my view is only one view. However, I always wonder about my urge sometimes to make my self up- sometimes with the whispering thought that I need to look better...I've gone through various phases as you could imagine, like any vulnerable woman in our times. I've spent money on creams to treat anything from acne to wrinkles. I've looked at magazines and wished... But gradually, and luckily, the deep sense of sweetness and wisdom has enveloped me into a sense of security and an urge to be proactive and informed about my health, beauty and well being. Our natural world provides the tools and products we need to be beautiful.
It is our diet, our habits, our sense of inadequacy that sometimes allows us to believe in the medias reality of beauty and that helps them make millions out of the process. Be informed, don't buy into the idea that you need a day and night cream and moisturizer and this and that, look into the benefits of Shea butter for example to replace those, it's natural, inexpensive and hopefully you will buy fair traded so that it also has a positive social impact. Read up about home remedies, one I remember reading about is the benefits of peanut butter as an emollient- you see it can be as simple as that. For the make up part, look into naturally made products but do your own research and where possible look for wisdom in ancient times for spices that were once used to that benefit. One very big, big, huge, epic advice- don't watch too much advertisements, TV, music videos etc be smart about it- as soon as you catch your self doing comparisons, turn it off. Remember those people live a very different reality than you and I. To give you an example, I recently went to a meeting with a trainer to talk about prices for sessions- for curiosity's sake- And I was surprised not only the amount of money it would cost me ( which was 4837 for three times a week for six months- yes you may say not much, but much when you are trying to save) but also how much exercise I would need to do in order to get admiringly fit. Think of it, we cannot compare our selves to celebrities which have inexhaustible incomes and time.
My husband and I have committed our selves to living as much as possible TV free. Having said that, some of you may roll your eyes in afterthoughts but believe me every little bit of living our own sweet life for our selves matters- so if there is anything to make up, let's make up our lives for ourselves:)