When I’m out with my friends, sometimes we will see a woman who has put a lot of effort into the makeup she’s wearing. From the drawn-on eyebrows and smoky eyeshadow to the lipstick, my friends and I would probably say she is wearing too much makeup. But while we might have our own standards of what amount of makeup is appropriate, who are we to judge her for her choice?

I think of makeup as a way to express your personality. Some people see makeup as an art form. People even study to become professional makeup artists. Whatever way you see it, I don’t think anyone should be judged for their choice to either wear makeup or not wear it.

I was 6 years old when I was first introduced to makeup. As a girl who took a lot of dance classes, I was required to wear it for recitals. Makeup became my worst enemy when my mom had to put mascara on me. I would cry and refuse because she kept poking me in the eye with the wand.

But at some point in most girls’ lives, makeup becomes a huge point of interest. That point came for me when I was in middle school. When I was 13, my middle school had a dance for eighth graders. My mom said I could wear makeup if I wanted to, and of course I did.

My mom bought me the most neutral colors for eyeshadow, and she told me I had to wear brown mascara because it wouldn’t be as harsh as black. I was still excited to be allowed to wear makeup to school.

During my middle school years, I only wore eyeshadow, mascara and maybe some lip gloss. But by high school, I was trying out new colors of eyeshadows and experimenting with different looks. Maybe someone should have told me I didn’t need to wear purple eyeliner every day of my freshman year.

When I was in high school, I watched makeup tutorials on YouTube as often as people watch Netflix now. Basically a lot of my free time was spent watching amateurs put different colors of eyeshadow on. After watching these tutorials, I would feel so inclined to recreate the looks to the best of my ability and then have my own mini photoshoot in my room. iPhones were becoming a big thing, so taking pictures of myself was easier than using a digital camera.

I know other female students were just as vain as me and would take photos of themselves just to post them on Facebook. Looking back at my first uploaded profile pictures on Facebook is always entertaining because of how embarrassing they are.

Now that Instagram is so popular, the term “selfie” has been added to the dictionary. Whenever I scroll through my feed, it seems like women are competing to use #nofilter and #nomakeup on their posts. I always question why — or does anyone really care? I honestly don’t. Sometimes these women are lying about being makeup-free anyway.

For the women who don’t lie about posting their bare face on social media, I don’t think they should have to post hashtags like #nomakeup. To me, using those tags seems like they are bragging to their followers that they are better for showing their face without makeup. No one should feel the need to show off, and females were all born without makeup on anyway.

With the whole #nomakeup trend comes the idea that every woman needs to be “natural” to be considered beautiful. People assume having “natural beauty” is the best. I have also heard of some employers requiring their female workers to wear minimal or no makeup because they want to promote the natural look. It seems like more men and women need to be all-natural and should wear less makeup.

I bet what those men don’t know is that sometimes the all-natural woman they think they’re looking at is probably wearing some type of makeup or is photoshopped. But why does it matter what men say about makeup anyway? Most of them probably couldn’t tell you how to use half the products.

Wearing makeup makes me feel good about myself and more put together. I know saying something like that sounds shallow, but it honestly helps to boost my confidence. Sometimes just a little concealer to cover those dark circles I get from staying up too late is enough. Or when I wear a black dress, I see red lips as like the finishing touch to the outfit.

I don’t think anyone needs makeup to be beautiful. Like I’ve said, wearing makeup is personal preference. I’ve seen some of my friends without it on and they’re all beautiful.

Sometimes even I think to myself, “I’m having an awesome skin day, I don’t need concealer.” As I said before, makeup can be artistic or considered a form of expression. Those of us who do wear it shouldn’t be shamed upon. The same goes for the women who go day-to-day without an ounce of makeup on their face.

Meagan Beck is a State News reporter. Reach her at mbeck@statenews.com.