On Finally Having Something Everyone Wants

Unless you live under a rock and/or never access the internet, you have definitely heard all about Kylie Jenner’s lips lately. Are they natural? Did she have surgery? No matter how she came about her significant pout, it has been plastered all over social media and just about every other news source now that people across the world have been going to bizarre lengths to get lips like Kylie’s.

Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Invision for Invision for PacSun/AP Images

Jenner’s lips are not only the cause of mass confusion (they didn’t look like that just a few years ago) and controversy (did she have plastic surgery?), but also the reason behind the Kylie Jenner Challenge, which involves sticking your lips inside a shot glass or similar container, and then sucking all of the air out of the item’s inner space. The suction causes swelling, which in turn makes your lips look bigger. In some cases, MUCH bigger, and a handful of participants in this challenge have ended up with severe bruising or have been hospitalized.

Here’s the thing: I could not give a rat’s bum about Kylie Jenner’s face. She’s just another celebrity, and what do celebrities do? Cause people to want to look and be like them. It’s just how our society operates – we idolize others. I don’t think I’ve ever actually wanted to look like a celebrity. I suppose I may have requested a celebrity’s hairstyle at some point in the past as an inspiration for a look, but I have never gone out of my way to emulate someone’s appearance. And with the Kylie Jenner phenomenon, there’s no reason for me to. I already have the lips.

Here’s the second thing: I didn’t much like them growing up. I used to often smile with my mouth closed because a funny line appears above my upper lip. I didn’t think it looked like a “real smile” because the corners of my mouth didn’t turn upwards like everyone else’s. I also thought they were quite too large for my face. Someone once told me in a makeup class, “Be careful what color you wear, because you don’t want your lips to arrive before your face.” And thus I almost never wore lipstick until about three years ago.

Then I decided to stop caring, and I began wearing lipstick often. I embraced my lips. I embraced my round face. I stopped worrying about how my face looked when I smiled, and learned which way I prefered to turn my chin in photographs. I have more fun with makeup. I try new things. And then Kylie Jenner came along, and suddenly everyone wanted her lips. Hundreds of tutorials on how to over-line your lips popped up overnight. I admit that I watched a few out of curiosity.

A couple weeks ago, I was out to dinner with a few blogger babe friends, and suddenly one told me that she thinks my lips are really pretty, and that she and her boyfriend had even had a discussion about them. I was super flattered, as you might imagine. However, I don’t think I had ever, ever, EVER had anyone compliment me like that before. I totally wonder if it’s because of the sudden fascination with having a puffier pout.

I can say for certain it’s fun to have something that everyone wants, and I didn’t have to do a darn thing to get it! I can thank my father’s mother for the good genes! And with that, I’m going to go apply some lipstick, and head to happy hour. Embrace what makes YOU unique because one day it might be what everyone wants.

This Girl Just Officially Won the Kylie Jenner Challenge