Scattered across the countertop is an array of lab equipment: tubes filled with thick liquids, pigmented powders laid in grids, cotton swabs littered throughout. The dabbing of brushes upon palettes sends small, dusty explosions of color into the air. The scientist sits on the edge of the sink, nose two inches from the mirror, delicately dragging a line of ink from the corner of the canthus — an experiment to find the perfect look.

Makeup is everywhere in our daily lives. An estimated 52% of the U.S. adult population applies makeup at least occasionally, and the cosmetics industry looms large, expected to generate $106.76 billion in the United States in 2026. Some individuals use makeup to channel their creativity and express themselves.

Audrey Song (11) started makeup during online school in sixth grade, influenced by both her friends and her own developing art style.

“I was like, well, I already like doing art, and when I draw my characters, I … typically draw them with eyelashes and stuff,” Song said. “I never thought of doing that on myself, but I thought it’d be fun to experiment and kind of show my personality through that.”

By learning from both her mom and the internet, Song advanced her makeup skills throughout middle school.

“I got very inspired by K-pop makeup and stuff, so I would follow tutorials by them and kind of discover my own thing,” Song said.

Song especially likes K-pop groups with “soft and very girlish” styles.

“I know there’s different styles, like I know some girl groups have more stronger styles, but I really like IVE’s makeup,” Song said. “It’s very girly and very pink, and I think that’s very cute.”

Similarly, Syd Roenfeldt (11) began their makeup journey during quarantine.

“It was 2021, so I was about 12 to 13, and since we [were] all stuck at home, I got to see all these different people on the internet doing all kinds of really beautiful makeup and it inspired me to want to try some of my own,” Roenfeldt said.

Roenfeldt was originally drawn to “whatever was trending,” including “big eyeliner, bright blush and emo sort of vibes.” Now, Roenfeldt would describe their makeup as “simply alternative, because it changes a lot.” They try on a wide variety of expressive makeup looks on a daily basis, ranging from dark eyeliner to dots all around the eyes to fully green face paint “just for fun.” Roenfeldt was recruited to the TP Players makeup crew after the crew’s leader, Reese Jurman (12), noticed Roenfeldt’s makeup.

“My favorite part is probably getting to look a little bit weird,” Roenfeldt said. “We all know humans don’t naturally have blue eyelashes or glittery eyelids or whatever, so it makes me feel so much more fun just looking a little bit out of the norm.”

AP 2-D Art & Design and Drawing & Design teacher Katie O’Brien also used colorful makeup to express herself in her teenage years.

“I love color,” O’Brien said. “If you look at any of my artwork, I’m super color oriented. So I just think, from a young age, I loved painting and color, so that’s just in me.”

O’Brien started doing makeup on herself when she was around 14 to 15 years old after finally getting parental approval. However, since she was around 10 years old, she would put makeup on the little girls who lived in her same cul de sac because she was “the oldest kid on the street.” O’Brien recalls the young girls coming over to her house all the time to get their makeup done. Right after graduating college, O’Brien did a cosmetics job at Nordstrom for around a year as an “in-between job.” She enjoyed doing “normal, everyday makeup” for customers, but soon found that the sales environment was “not as fun as the artistic part of it.”

Now, O’Brien does simplistic makeup on a day-to-day basis, but for Halloween, she paints herself as a famous artwork.

“I love Halloween,” O’Brien said. “Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I’m kind of competitive when it comes to costumes. I think I saw something online and saw the inspiration to do a famous painting on the face, and then another light bulb went off, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, well, that could be my Halloween costume.’ So then that’s when I started doing it.”

O’Brien was also inspired by Alexa Mead, another artist who paints her own body to create art. Throughout the years, O’Brien painted herself as Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night,” Picasso’s work, Monet’s “Water Lilies”, the “Mona Lisa” and more. She uses Athena Face Body Paint because it stays on her skin well, blends smoothly and is highly pigmented.

In terms of daily makeup, O’Brien recalls doing more “artsy and colorful” makeup when she was younger, but now goes for more “natural makeup.” O’Brien is also “not [as] big on eyeshadow” as she used to be, but still loves eyeliner just as much as she did since she was a teen. Other essential makeup items for her are an eyelash curler, mascara and lipstick.

“I’m a lot more laid back about things the older I get,” O’Brien said. “I’m really not trying to impress anyone. In your 40s, you start to realize that trying so hard for other people becomes not a priority. You put yourself first, and I find that it’s easier.”

Similarly, Song’s makeup style in middle school was more “bold,” but she feels that she has since then “toned down” for a more natural look.

“When I was first starting out, I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Song said. “In seventh and eighth grade, specifically, I was trying to do more like Douyin makeup, so I would do the thickest eyebrows… and very thick eyeliner. But I realized that wasn’t really suitable for my face, because I kind of discovered something called visual weight. If you have high visual weight, then you are suited for more bolder makeup. I think I have more [of a] low visual weight, so I think more natural makeup looks better on me. I kind of discovered that in freshman year of high school.”

Like Song, Roenfeldt has also grown to understand their own facial features as they developed their makeup skills, especially in gaining consistency and understanding their facial shape better. Roenfeldt enjoys putting together “all sorts of strange looks with different colors” to experiment with self expression.

“As my style has grown, my makeup has grown with it as it is a part of my expression of my style,” Roenfeldt said. “I now feel much more confident in myself so I can be more comfortable wearing more natural makeup looks when I feel like it. I think that my makeup more expresses how I am feeling than my overall personality. On days when I feel more upset, I may wear darker makeup, on days when I feel happy, I may wear brighter colors. I use it to emphasize whatever vibe I am feeling that day.”

For many, however, makeup is synonymous with insecurity. According to a survey done in 2012, “at least one in five young girls between the ages of 8 and 18 who have ever worn makeup have negative feelings about their image when not wearing makeup, associating a ‘bare face’ with feeling insecure and unattractive.” Under this mindset, makeup is no longer an experiment to find artistic expression, but instead a purge to cover up one’s perceived “flaws.”

Roenfeldt overcame this struggle in freshman year when their creative writing class had an assignment to give up something for two weeks. At the time, Roenfeldt had worn makeup “everyday since about 2022” and found that it was “hard to go without it,” so they chose to give up makeup for the assignment.

“It was hard, and I felt insecure but it boosted my confidence so much in the long run and made me feel so much more comfortable in general,” Roenfeldt said. “Now, I wear makeup whenever I want, instead of it feeling like the only way to feel secure… I’m very glad to have gone through those two weeks [with] no makeup even though it was so scary to me at the time.”

Roenfeldt believes an individual’s relationship with makeup will “fluctuate … depending on age, what’s going on in their life, how they are feeling” and many more factors.

“I know many people who do use makeup to cover up their insecurities but at the same time I know just as many people who do it for the pure joy of it,” Roenfeldt said. “Each person is different and more than that. I [also] think it fluctuates with time. I think depending on what beauty standards are going around at the time influences if people feel the need to change their makeup for others or if they feel free to wear what they want just to express themselves.”

Many others face external hostilities as makeup becomes stigmatized.

“I used to get so much hate for doing makeup in middle school,” Song said. “I feel like, mentally it kind of just taught me how it’s fine to express yourself. I kind of thought that it was bad because it’s like, ‘oh, you’re insecure.’ But now I kind of learned how it’s also just another form of art.”

O’Brien agrees.

“I don’t think you necessarily have to wear makeup to be expressive,” O’Brien said. “You could be an expressive person and not wear makeup. But for those people who choose to use makeup, I don’t think that they should be given a hard time for that. I think everyone should be able to express themselves the way that they want. Yes, makeup can be a safety blanket, and in a way, sometimes, maybe if you have bad skin or if you want to add eyelashes, I could see that as an aspect to it. But there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a way to express yourself the way you want to look.”

Through experimenting with makeup, many discovered newfound appreciation for themselves.

“I think when you paint on a blank canvas, I feel like… that’s kind of expressing what’s on your mind, and you have more leisure,” Song said. “But with your face, you kind of have to work around it. I feel like, through that, you kind of learn to love yourself.”