Ways my Japanese husband supports me: Makeup.

Have you ever heard that in order to kick or change a habit, you need 60 days? For me, it took a bit longer.

Of the many love/hate relationships in the world, makeup and I are best frienemies.

It's fun to get all beautified, but sometimes can look ridiculous and end up being way more time consuming. Some days there's really not much we need, but other days it's a complete lifesaver. So, most days it's on my face.

But then I met Taiki who insisted that I didn't need to be painting my face everyday, or at all. How sweet, right? He thinks I'm beautiful without it - adorable. Or he just wanted my skin to look nicer. Either or.

Oh gosh... how I miss you.

So when we were living in Japan, I toned it down a bit. Of course, when Taiki up and left to Australia I fell back into old habits (oops). But Japanese makeup is so cheap and fun. You can't blame a girl.

Leaving Japan and returning home to the States, however, found my skin parched dry and things kind of went back downhill from there. Back to that unhealthy dependence on concealer/foundation. Following Taiki to Australia didn't help either. But 'luckily' by the time we got to Bali, my supplies were running out.

There couldn't have been a better place to start a complete skin detox. If I even tried to put anything on my face, it was instantaneously gone. But that didn't stop me at first - I tried. Getting sunburn on my face warranted an attempt at coverage, I thought. Then of course Taiki chimed in, mentioning that my skin looked a tad too fair for Bali. Crap. So I gave in.

The serious push was backpacking in Europe. Only armed with a limited amount of mascara, there was no looking back. 

After about two months, waking up, getting dressed, and heading out became secondhand. The majority of those negative thoughts I used to get when looking at a naked face had disappeared. Random comments from Taiki were such a bonus, too. When on the verge of a bad hair day, him saying that it's always beautiful was so sweet. 

But fast forward to the present where Taiki is in Japan and I in America. I'm still rarely using any foundation and loving it. It's that much more fun when I do feel the need to spruce myself up, too. I'm glad to say my skin is doing pretty well! 

But it's dry. Super dry. 

Did I mention Taiki's not a fan of moisturizer either?