RAVE ministries, a community of teenage girls “striving to live a more purposeful life,” established “No Makeup November” in 2012 to encourage women to not wear makeup all month and embrace their natural features. They made it clear that wearing makeup isn’t wrong, but having a healthy relationship with it and being confident without it is important as well. Although it’s a positive message, as a current makeup-lover, I don’t think putting away the makeup bag is the best answer when considering the evolution in the perception of makeup I’ve witnessed throughout the years.

When I first discovered makeup tutorials about six years ago, I remember watching a lot of content on how to cover your acne and other imperfections. People considered applying makeup as a way to help hide their flaws and make themselves look more beautiful. However, society’s viewpoint on why women wear makeup has changed drastically within the past few years.

In 2015, the YouTuber NikkieTutorials shared a new and healthier perspective on makeup by uploading a video titled “The Power of Makeup” where she applied makeup to only half her face, leaving the other side blank and natural. Nikkie said she made the video to bring awareness to how women are shamed for feeling good about themselves in makeup.

“Nowadays when you say you love makeup, you either do it because you wanna look good for boys, you do it because you’re insecure, or you do it because you don’t love yourself,” she said. “I just want people to know that makeup is fun and there are no rules to makeup.” The video currently has 37 million views and millions of other YouTubers have since recreated the concept on their own channels.

These days, more videos have been uploaded on how to embrace natural features rather than cover them up. I recently watched a video by Buzzfeed where Paige Lauren Billiot, a woman born with a port-wine stain birthmark on half of her face, teaches a tutorial on ways to make her “imperfection” stand out even more. She doesn’t cover the birthmark with foundation at all and instead fills it in with shimmery eyeshadows, flowers and gold flakes. Watching this video made me realize how wonderful it is that women like Billiot are confident enough to embrace their natural beauty now and how much the concept of makeup evolved.

Makeup is no longer a “girl thing” anymore either. Public figures such as Patrick Starr, Manny Gutierrez and James Charles are leading a revolution against the imaginary rules society previously set on makeup. The makeup industry is more accepting than ever and it’s truly heartwarming to see its growth.

I was raised to believe that women who wore “too much” makeup were gaudy and fake-looking, but I now realize that that mentality is incredibly degrading and flat out wrong. Although there are negative influences on social media, the positive ones like Nikkie and Billiot and others have taught me to appreciate beauty of all kinds.