There's a girl I know who loads on the makeup like it's her last day alive. She gets up every morning and shovels layers of foundation onto her already smooth skin. She covers each eyelid with a pasty blue color. Her eyelashes? She looks like she has five on each eye. They're stuck together and clumped with bad mascara. Her lips are edged with lipliner that is an obviously darker shade than her natural color. She rotates boyfriends every two weeks and can't seem to keep friends either.

Then, one day by chance you find photos of her before she got into the makeup craze. You're thinking:

"She's so...plain."

"She's not very pretty at all under all that makeup."

"She's almost...ugly."

There's another girl who I've known for about three years now. We went to middle school together. The entire time we knew each other, she never touched a brush or a pencil to her face. She didn't have the looks of a goddess, but she was comfortable with herself and at ease with how she looked. This quality got her a long-term boyfriend and meaningful relationships with friends. On the day we both graduated, she came wearing a dress and -- surprise! -- a little dusting of makeup on her face.

The reaction?

"Wow, she's beautiful!"

"She looks amazing with makeup on!"

"I can't take my eyes off her!"

I'm come to a verdict about this. Everyone's face--without makeup and enhancement--is, essentially, the "real them". Sooner or later, somebody (or everybody...) is going to see it.

If you pile makeup onto your face and look as fake as possible, people aren't going to like the "real you" when it all comes off. They're used to you looking like you're related to the gods above. The "real you" is going to be unfamiliar to them, especially because you'll probably be carrying yourself without much confidence. They'll be surprised about how "plain" and "homely" you are.

If you haven't touched makeup throughout all your life, people are going to be familiar with the real you: somebody who's beautiful and knows it. At special events and occasions, they'll be astounded when you polish up, but they'll still know that you like yourself inside and out, so they'll still consider you beautiful when you walk into work the next day with the usual fresh, natural face.

The "real you" is always beautiful, no matter what. You shouldn't let anyone believe otherwise. It's all about how you carry it: are you going to cover it up, or are you going to let your radiant face shine?

Don't depend on the makeup. Be beautiful today.