Last night I went as a guest to a wedding with one of my best friends. One of my very favorite parts about going to a wedding? Well I am sure many of you can guess that it is getting all dressed up and dolling myself up. I love wearing makeup and I especially love putting it on for a special occasion. When I do my makeup for work I keep towards a more natural look, but for parties or occasions I love to break out my dark red lipsticks and glittery metallic eyeshadows. That got me thinking a bit about what to talk about this week. I wanted to talk about beauty. Different aspects of beauty and which is the most important.

Now I want to give credit where it is due. I first started pondering this topic for today's post when I read this past Friday's post on fellow blog The Haiku Imagist. He wrote a lovely poem about a peacock and then talked a bit about inner beauty on this post. I have given this page a shoutout before, but if you missed that you can check out Friday's post here, and I highly recommend you check out his other work as well. This post about inner beauty really made me think. Sure I love to dress up and I love buying and trying out new makeup, but I truly believe inner beauty is so much more important. Much like a beautiful red apple can be rotten on the inside, people can too.

So let's talk about the whole makeup thing for a moment here. I am sure some people would think that I wear too much makeup. Every morning I do the whole routine: Foundation, concealer, brows, eyes, contour, blush, highlighter. I personally do this just because I love it. There was a time in my life, however, that I wore makeup because I felt I had to. I have mentioned numerous times how bad my skin was out of college and I felt the need to cover up those "flaws." I always felt I looked different or bad when I didn't put makeup of any kind on. I honestly used to put it on even if I was just running an errand. I am so happy I finally overcame that. I now only wear it because I love it. Sure it does feel nice when I get complements on the look I create, but I no longer feel I need to wear it constantly. I never wear it at the gym (remove your makeup at the gym its so much healthier for you skin), and I usually let it rest on the weekends unless I have a function to go to where I want to wear it. Just running to target? Nope, I leave it off.

Inner beauty is so much more important overall. I know not everyone will fully agree on this. In my opinion though the type of people that are more concerned with your outer beauty over your inner beauty are going to be toxic people in your life anyways. No amount of foundation or pretty clothes can cover up an ugly personality. I want you to take a moment and consider your inner beauty. Are you more concerned with your outside appearance so much so that your soul is lacking? How do you treat others? Would others consider you to have a beautiful soul? It all comes down to how we treat others. I hope when facing a decision between inner and outer beauty that you always pick to be beautiful on the inside. Luckily though we don't have to choose. Go ahead and put as much or as little makeup on your face as you please, but when you do make sure you are smiling and making others smile as well. You can spend hundreds of dollars on makeup and fancy skincare, but you can't spend any amount of money to change your soul. That is completely on you to make sure it is beautiful.

Overall I just want you all to remember that beauty is in fact not skin deep. Sure cosmetic beauty is, but there are many ways we can be a beautiful person on the inside as well. Make sure you are looking to have truly beautiful people on the inside in your life always. When looking for a friend or really any kind of relationship it is important to remember this. Get to know a person's heart and soul before you truly make judgements on them. If they have a good heart, that means they have a beautiful soul. Do your best to have a beautiful soul as well. I know when I put my makeup on every morning before work that I do it just for me. I do not do it to please anyone else. I know that I do my best to be a good person, and that is what makes anyone truly beautiful.