A Beautiful Heart: What I learned after fasting from makeup for Lent...
Hello Heart Fam! I come to you today with an oldie but a goodie blog. With Lent starting this Wednesday, I felt it appropriate to reshare the blog about the beauty I learned in fasting from makeup last Lent. If Lent is a season that has snuck up on you, I pray that this brings you revelation in your own heart about what the Lord is inviting you to fast from or how He is inviting you to walk with Him more deeply throughout these next 40 days.
LENT 2025
This past lent has been one of the most beautiful and transformative lents yet. As Ash Wednesday was approaching, I began asking the Lord what He'd have me fast from this year. I asked Him many different times to reveal to me how I can draw closer to Him, sometimes I'd ask during deep prayer, and other times just quickly as I was driving or doing chores. He promptly answered me one morning while I was looking in the mirror getting ready for work. I had tossed up the same prayer, and right as I stepped into the mirror the bible verse 1 Peter 3:4 came to my heart. I knew instantly which verse He was speaking to me. "Your adornment should not be an external one: braiding the hair, wearing gold jewelry, or dressing in fine clothes, but rather the hidden character of the heart, expressed in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and calm disposition, which is precious in the sight of God." I had read and familiarized myself with this verse before, but all I could think of when He placed in on my heart was "nooooooo" because in that moment I knew exactly what the Lord was calling me to do this Lent and it personally would not be easy. I was called to fast from makeup and jewelry. The reality is, if the Lord places something on your heart to give up and all you can think is "oh I could neverrrrrr" then it's exactly what you gotta weed out of your life my friend.
Shoot, I thought. Am I vain? I asked myself. I don't think so? I mean I love expressing myself through makeup, jewelry, fashion, you name it. All the things that are quickly associated with what modern society considers vanity to be. But do I place my beauty, value, worth, and image into these things? Am I using them as glasses to see the world's beauty or am I using them as a mask to cover my own ugliness? All things I asked Jesus in prayer. Throughout more prayer and fasting I realized the answer was more the latter. Dang it. It's not that I can't let go of these things or truly feel that looks are my identity, but I realized that I used a face of makeup or pretty outfit almost as a coping mechanism or facade, that if I looked put together, then the ugly parts of my heart would be hidden or no one would realize that even put together I have NO IDEA WHAT IM DOING. Sound familiar? I think we've all been there at one time or another. But I was reminded of the scripture Proverbs 11:22 "Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion." Freedom from vanity and the understanding of true beauty isn't so much so in the letting go of the jewelry, makeup, or clothes, rather in the transformation of heart that happens when freed from those bondages. The more I understood this the more I felt like the Tin man from the The Wizard of Oz, because I too was searching for a new, beautiful heart.
Before that transformation of heart was even on my mind, at the beginning of Lent I thought, well if anything maybe my skin will clear up a bit. Living in Mexico did a number on my skin and it was STILL healing, therefore I was stuck in vicious cycle of covering what I didn't like and only harming my skin further with poor products. Since I was no longer wearing makeup, I noticed my skin absolutely thriving. I got more compliments on my skin's "glow" than I ever did when wearing a full face of makeup (though the compliments are not important, they were reassuring that the world does not in fact end when I show up to an event bare-faced). This led to me researching even further the products I was using and becoming convicted that if my body is truly a temple (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) then I wanted to actually honor God in the products that I use to take care of it. I'm not here to tell you what products to use or buy, but what I can say is when I dumped all of my quick-fix skincare for some grass-fed, grass-finished beef tallow instead, my skin has never looked better. I bought it from a Catholic brand named Regina's (linked below). Not only that, but not wearing makeup saves SO MUCH TIME in the morning and also just throughout the day not having to constantly check in the mirror if its smudged or moved and less time in the mirror is a win-win, because less time in the mirror = less time to think about insecurities. Praise! I don't think we were ever designed to be so aware of ourselves how we are now. And that ultimately is what vanity is, not necessarily what you wear but the disposition of heart in thinking of yourself more than you think of others. It was in the healing of my skin that the transformation of heart began.
Normally, I think most women can agree, that you can feel "put together" if you have at least one of the three things done, your hair, your makeup, or your outfit. If all three are taken care of, then I feel so on top of it, if none are done, then I want to be in bed all day. The first thing I had to overcome was the sensation of feeling "naked" without putting my everyday jewelry on, or a bit of blush, concealer etc. But it was this bareness and being exposed that I was able to find freedom in my identity as a woman that the Lord delights to behold and delights to be around. It took much prayer and surrender but after a while, much like Adam and Even in the Garden I was able to be "naked" (metaphorically speaking ppl) with a bare face and no jewelry yet feel no shame because of the security I felt in my relationship, likeness, and identity to God. This also allowed me to see others more wholly as well and to stop taking in others at face value but to see their heart a nurture their needs expressed or unexpressed by sharing a love and light that Christ was (and is) giving me.
Sometimes I would put on an outfit and think"this would be so much cuter if I could just add xyz..." But "xyz" never completed anything. I now recognize I was truly whole without them. While it is so fun to put on makeup or statement earrings as a "finishing touch" to your look, it's never the source of your completeness or the substance of your beauty. Jewelry has been where I have been most tempted to break the fast and just put on a little stud every now and then because who would actually notice if I do? Then I asked myself again...who would actually notice if I do? This is where our verse 1 Peter 3:4 comes in handy also because it explicitly mentions JEWELRY. So whenever I was tempted to break the fast, I read this verse and prayed scripture and truth over myself until the devil fled from me and I could move about my day (James 4:7). Praying scripture over yourself and others is so friggen powerful I am going to have to do a whole new blog post about how I have learned to do it and how transformative it is. Praying this way was always a good reality check because it allowed me to question who I was actually doing it for. Ask yourself: Do I wear this to express myself and feel confident, or do I wear it so others will like me more? It makes it easier to follow through with your promises when you realize the only person you harm by breaking it is yourself. (James 5:12, 1 Corinthians 6:18).
The Lord gives in abundance, the Lord also has transformed so many aspects of my heart through this simple (not easy) fast. Does this mean I am never wearing makeup or enjoying jewelry again? No! But has how and why I wear them changed completely? Absolutely. There is so much more on this topic I could dive into on the verse 1 Peter 3:4 "...but rather the hidden character of the heart, expressed in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and calm disposition, which is precious in the sight of God." This was a doozy to pray through and learn from, especially as someone who is naturally silly, goofy, loud, and outgoing. So if you're anything like me and feel targeted when the Lord says a calm disposition is pleasing to Him, then I’d love to share some wisdom that I have learned from this maybe in the next blog!
In a nutshell, here are my main take aways from this fast:
The quality of products you use on your skin matters (duh)
Makeup is a fun "bonus" but NEVER required or necessary for your beauty to show
the "bare minimum" aka the bare YOU is MORE than good enough
If you can't keep a promise to yourself, then you can't keep a promise to others. (James 5:12, Luke 16:10-12).
Assuming that others with judge you for not wearing makeup is a judgement you are making about them and that is a sin.
Vanity is so much more than how much makeup and what brand of clothes you wear. You could be in a burlap sack and still be vain.
We are wayyyy too aware of ourselves and look at ourselves more than humans were ever meant to.
With Heart, Ellie
HELPFUL LINKS:
Catholic Beef Tallow: https://reginasskincare.com/products/tallow-salve-vit-c-e-frankincense
