Women share selfies against make-up shaming with #ThePowerOfMakeUp

You may have seen pictures of women with make-up on one half of their face floating on Instagram and twitter lately. The hashtag #ThePowerOfMakeUp has been blowing up on social media after beauty blogger Nikkie de Jager (NikkieTutorials) posted a video with only half her face done up. She wanted to show her followers the power of make-up and with nearly 19 million views on the video we can all agree that she has.

For de Jager this was her way of taking a stand against make-up shaming “because make-up… is FUN!” She mentions in her video that people will tell her that she looks slimmer when she’s wearing make-up and shows us how she contours her face. But she wants her followers to know that it isn’t about hiding your insecurities under a layer of make-up, for her it is all about having fun. “Make-up is there for days when you want to look hella good,” and for de Jager this means enjoying the amazing things you can do with make-up.

Another beauty blogger who has experienced make-up shaming is Em Ford from mypaleskin.com, who suffers from severe acne. She started receiving hurtful messages after she began uploading pictures of herself without make-up on social media. At the beginning of this month she spoke up by posting a video entitled YOU LOOK DISGUSTING.

Facing the unrealistic beauty standards of today’s society Ford wants people to “remember the most important thing – You ARE beautiful.” The video shows Ford with her skin bared surrounded by nasty remarks. As she puts on make-up compliments start appearing. But even in make-up she cannot escape criticism. “This is false advertising,” one user comments, while another states girls in make-up cannot be trusted.

With #ThePowerOfMakeUp women are fighting back against such statements. Make-up should be a form of self-expression and these women want you to know that there is nothing wrong with wanting to look beautiful. Just for themselves.

Sally Wijers