This is Miss R's second time that she has been in our Orange County boudoir studio for a session. ((you might even remember her session from just 7 months ago! https://graceandlaceboudoir.com/blog/on-my-bucket-list-orange-county-boudoir)) She is the epitome of grace, confidence, gorgeousness, and kindness. I loved the lingerie (and lack of ;) that she brought with her. She wanted something completely different for her session this time around. She recently started on a healthy eating program and felt the best she's felt in a long time, so she wanted to commemorate that! And paired up with the hair and makeup that Sarah did, yeah, I'm DYING! What I loved too was that she decided she would do a set of photos with very natural makeup for her husband who loves her fresh-faced but then she knew she wanted the glam look for herself. So we did both. A boudoir session with us is customizable - it's NOT cookie cutter, one size fits all around here.

Do you find it odd that a woman wearing NO makeup on the red carpet can make a such a splash in the media? Have we fallen so short as a society that it is against the norm to go barefaced anywhere?? The fact that there’s even a debate over whether a woman should or shouldn’t wear makeup is asinine! I applaud Alicia Keys for deciding she doesn't need make up whether she’s on the street or on TV and NOT apologizing for it. It’s beautiful and inspiring and it is her CHOICE.

Don’t get me wrong, I love makeup. I love having the option of wearing it. There is obviously no shame in wanting to wear it for fun or as art form and I respect other women who simply love make-up because it's fun, too! If that were not the case, we wouldn’t even offer it in our boudoir experience. But feeling the NEED to cover our faces or being TOLD to look another way because of society’s standards is completely different. That’s not confidence. A woman showing up without make up should not be considered “courageous." No woman should ever be made to feel like they need makeup to be taken seriously or to look pretty. We are enough, just the way we are.

I've been trying to go without makeup a little more this summer so that my sons never ask me why I won't leave the house without it anymore. I don't want my sons to feel like makeup should ever be a necessity on a girl. When they’re old enough to start dating, I want them to be with a girl who is confident in her own skin to wear it when she wants to and NOT wear it when she doesn’t. And it starts with their own mom feeling confident enough wearing a natural face as much as a made up face.

It is actually my hope for all of us girls to be confident and strong enough to throw off the restraints of a society that tries to force us to make personal style choices for the benefit of others. Be true to yourself. If that means wearing makeup daily, do that. If that means wearing minimal to no makeup, I support that too! Just let your own beauty shine! Alicia Keys made the choice that's right for her and set an amazing example at the same time. Three cheers to her for giving us a chance to love her as she is and who she wants to be.

"I hope to God it's a revolution. 'Cause I don't want to cover up anymore. Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing," Keys wrote in an essay for Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter in May

And just for fun, here are a few recent pictures of myself sans makeup and with makeup. Nothing special, just a couple selfies...